For the 2nd time in just over a year, we were drawn to Vienna to see art by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Considered one of the finest painters who ever lived, his incomparable landscape paintings, as well as his peasant works, draw people from all over the world to Vienna and the many other museums where his work is displayed, including Detroit. The art museum in Vienna houses 14 of his paintings, and the Albertina, virtually across the street, houses many of his prints and drawings. On our first visit in October of 2017, we went to see the Vienna Bruegel paintings. 11 of them were on display, which was plenty. However, the Albertina was also home to a vast temporary exhibit of his prints and drawings, collected from museums worldwide. So we had a double dose of the master!
This time, the Kunsthistoriches was hosting a major exhibit of his paintings and his prints and drawings. 30+ paintings and about 60 works on paper were being brought together in the largest exhibit of its kind, and likely the only one, ever. We saw 3 of the Vienna paintings that were not on display on our previous visit, along with these works: Mad Meg, from Brussels, and Triumph of Death, from Madrid, both recently cleaned and restored to pristine condition (all the Vienna paintings were also in pristine condition, with several restored especially for this exhibit!); from Rome came Bay of Naples; from Berlin came Two Monkeys (possibly my favourite painting of all time); from Rotterdam came the 2nd, smaller version of Tower of Babel, sitting alongside the larger Vienna version; from London came his mannerist Adoration of the Kings; from Prague came the magnificent Haymaking, shown with the three other extent Seasons paintings from Vienna, for the very first time; from Brussels came Winter Landscape with a Birdtrap, alongside one of the copies by his son Pieter the Younger; From Winterthur came Adoration of the Kings in the Snow, possibly the finest winter painting ever created; from Darmstadt came Landscape with the Magpie on the Gallows, considered by many to be his finest landscape; from the Louvre came The Cripples; from Munich came Head of an Old Peasant Woman, from England's Upton House, Banbury, came Death of the Virgin, and also a copy by Jan Brueghel the Elder of Massacre of the Innocents, alongside Vienna's original by Pieter the Elder; from the Frick collection in NYC came Three Soldiers; there was a recently rediscovered miniature painting called The Drunk Cast Into the Pigsty. I may have missed one or two. Don't forget about the Vienna paintings, including Hunters In the Snow and 14 others! So it was a total extravaganza, and worth all the expense and effort to get to Vienna. We went twice to the exhibit, and we barely scratched the surface. I am currently reading the purchased catalogue and essays. More essays will be published next autumn, the ones from the symposium (which was running on our visit, but was fully booked).
I will take you through a little photo journey of just one the paintings, Hunters In the Snow, courtesy of the Kunsthistoriches website called Inside Bruegel..... If the photos do not all load first time, reload the page.
Hunters In the Snow, Vienna. Painted in 1565. 45"x64"
Detail 1
Detail 2
Detail 3
Detail 4
Detail 5
Detail 6
Detail 7
Detail 8
Detail 9
Detail 10. That wee person in the bottom right is timeless. I saw him skating in Detroit the other day.
Detail 11--note the man shooting birds!
Detail 12--the famous chimney fire, with water being thrown!
Detail 13
And on and on and on.... I hope you get the idea. And this is only one painting. All of his large works are like this, paintings within paintings within paintings. Try to imagine 14 of these permanently within one museum, and then 30 of them in a temporary exhibit. Sheer insanity!! His works on paper are just as detailed. At the start of the exhibit, while waiting for your ticket time to enter, they had three giant screens constantly showing 3 of his paintings in detail, with the "camera" constantly moving very slowly to different areas. You were completely drawn into the artist's world before even entering the exhibit!
Waiting room for the exhibit, with 3 large screens moving in slow motion across three different paintings. It was spell binding, and the pictures were very high quality.
Mad Meg, restored for the exhibit. From Brussels.
The terrifying Triumph of Death, from Madrid, restored.
The incomparable miniature "Two Monkeys," from Berlin. An entire room was devoted to this tiny picture, showing how it was created by the artist in stages. It probably took him a day.
Madeleine, daughter of the Hirsute man. German, c. 1580.
A small Bosch.
We also got to visit the archaeological wing of the museum, our first visit. The collections are rich in Egyptian art and Roman art. Their collection of Roman gold is totally unbelievable!
Deb and her Near Eastern hero.
Some heads.
Way more heads!
After our 2nd visit to the Bruegel exhibit, we separated for an hour within the museum. Deb returned to the Wes Anderson curated exhibit, while I walked through Italian and French paintings. Anderson and his partner got to choose anything from the storage vaults and come up with an exhibit. The highlight was the title piece, "Spitzmaus Mummy in a Coffin and other Treasures." Here are some of Deb's photos from that exhibit.
Wow! Definitely a rare find. Egyptian, 4 Cent. B.C.
I am left somewhat without words for many of these objects....
Stage design model.
There were 411 objects, and they were exhibited in a cabinet of curiosities fashion. It was a pretty engaging exhibit, and a rare chance to see objects that will seldom, if ever, be shown again.
Here are some final shots of permanent art from the Kunsthistoriches....
3 Saxony Princesses, Cranach. Too charming!
Deb in one of the galleries devoted to Rubens.
Detail of a painting with critters.
A Venetian beauty, by Titian.
Gallery and ceiling, Kunsthistoriches, Vienna.
We spent half a day Tuesday and half a day Thursday at the Kunsthistoriches Museum. The rest of the time was spent re-exploring Vienna, which was all decked out for Christmas.
Continued in Part 2....
Mapman Mike
Mapman Mike
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