Austrian Sights

[scifan57]

A more quiet exhibition, but certainly worth a visit, or more than one:

Albertina, Vienna

A great opportunity to take a look at paintings and sometimes scultpures, produced by artists such as Miró, Picasso, Monet, Dürer, Rafael and others, is Albertina, just a few minutes from the House of Music.

The stairs to the exhibitions show what to expect - partially:
View attachment 67080

There's a constant exhibition, the Batliner collection.

When entering the building, you'll see a sign, indicating that it's not allowed to take photos, which I didn't, until I found others taking pictures in spite of that sign. Supervisory staff obviously didn't have a problem with this, as long as no flash was used, so I started taking photos as well. We were in the statesrooms at that time, our last part of the visit, which means that I didn't take photographs of the most interesting part of our visit. Which also means that they'll see me again, sooner or later.

The Batliner collection is not the only exhibition in this building: there are also others that change periodically. In our case, we were able to visit "Drawing Now", a collection of pieces of art which show present-day tendencies.

There was another one, "Abstract art from Austria" which we skipped. We both agreed that we don't understand that kind of art, so it was better not to take a look at the paintings and wondering what they should mean, and what the artists thought when creating their artwork. That's just our opinion, though. There are certainly enough people enjoying this exhibition.

We visited the statesrooms, as last of item our tour through the building. There are also some drawings, like Dürer's "Young Hare", and his "Praying Hands", or Raffaello Santi's "Head of an Apostle".
View attachment 67081
View attachment 67082
View attachment 67084
Some of the rooms:
View attachment 67085
View attachment 67086
View attachment 67087
View attachment 67088

Just to show what to expect when visiting Albertina - their website with a few photos of the paintings:
ALBERTINA - Current

And a few details that you'll find when you've bought your tickets and are allowed to enter:
View attachment 67089
View attachment 67090
View attachment 67091
View attachment 67092

I'm looking forward to part two of your visit.

 

[J. A.]

Certainly one of your best travel posts yet.

Thanks!
I hope it's easy to notice how much we enjoyed our stay there.

 

[J. A.]

I'm looking forward to part two of your visit.

Me too.
I've already promised my son to visit both locations with him, hopefully sooner than later.

 

[scifan57]

Thanks!
I hope it's easy to notice how much we enjoyed our stay there.

I'd have enjoyed the trip just as much as you did.

 

[J. A.]

So here's Albertina, once again. This time I took pictures from the exhibitions we visited.
There was a black & white photo exhibition, a few of the pictures

Henri Cartier Bresson, Brussels

Philadelphia, a photo by Ray K. Metzker

Julia Margaret Cameron took a photo of Sir Herschel

These are from "Drawing Now":

 

[J. A.]

Rubens' son Nicholas

Paul Signac - Antibes, the towers

Edvard Munch, winter landscape

Paul Delvaux, landscape with lanterns

René Magritte, the enchanted domain

Joan Miró, birds and insects

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, portrait of a young girl

Pablo Picasso (both pictures)

Claude Monet, water lily pond

Alfred Kubin, war

Lyonel Feininger, village Alt-Saltenthin

 

[giradman]

Hi Johanna - thanks for all of the pics of the art work - Susan & I have been collecting art since the late 1960s and our house is filled w/ our stuff - just a few paintings but mostly signed limited edition prints, glassware, pots, Kachinas, masks, sculptures, et al.

But we do have a lot of modern art - fun stuff but not the real famous artists of long ago nor in the genres (e.g. original paintings) of value; but just two examples below: 1) Miró lithograph, stoned signed; and 2) Alexander Calder lithograph, limited edition and pencil signed - the latter much more valuable. Dave

P.S. apologized for the angles but tried to avoid the flash evidence.
.

 

[J. A.]

Naturhistorisches Museum (Museum of Natural History), Vienna

Part 1

Two museums that look identical, are the Museum of Natural History, and the Museum of Art History. Bot are facing each other, with Maria Theresien Platz between them.

Both were built and opened at the same time.

We were visiting NHMW (Naturhistorisches Museum Wien) yesterday, late in the afternoon, when it was raining and already dark.
Here's the entrance to the museum:

First, a few pictures of the interior:

We only had about 90 minutes until the museum closed (at 6:30 pm on Fridays), and that's not enough to take a look at everything and try everything, by far. We didn't even see all the rooms with exhibitions.
Popular times are between noon and 3:00 pm.

So here a few examples what to expect when you visit this museum:
One of the highlights is an Allosaurus which is moving and roaring. Here's a short video from yesterday:

It doesn't show the full sequence - just a part of it -, and it wasn't silent there, but it should be possible to hear the Allosaurus "roar" (?).

Heads of dinosaurs

And it's allowed to touch a real dinosaur bone:

Part of the exhibition is also Austria's famous "Venus of Willendorf".

Here's more information about this statuette:
Venus of Willendorf - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There's also a replica of the Nebra sky disk - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

The real bronze disc was part of the exhibition ten years ago.

You can use a "Vulcano-pump" to make Mount Vesuvius erupt:

(Which we did, twice. )

Or touch the Moon, and read about Mars:

 

[scifan57]

Naturhistorisches Museum (Museum of Natural History), Vienna

Part 1

Two museums that look identical, are the Museum of Natural History, and the Museum of Art History. Bot are facing each other, with Maria Theresien Platz between them.
View attachment 68827
Both were built and opened at the same time.

We were visiting NHMW (Naturhistorisches Museum Wien) yesterday, late in the afternoon, when it was raining and already dark.
Here's the entrance to the museum:
View attachment 68828
First, a few pictures of the interior:
View attachment 68829
View attachment 68830
View attachment 68831
View attachment 68832

We only had about 90 minutes until the museum closed (at 6:30 pm on Fridays), and that's not enough to take a look at everything and try everything, by far. We didn't even see all the rooms with exhibitions.
Popular times are between noon and 3:00 pm.

So here a few examples what to expect when you visit this museum:
One of the highlights is an Allosaurus which is moving and roaring. Here's a short video from yesterday:

It doesn't show the full sequence - just a part of it -, and it wasn't silent there, but it should be possible to hear the Allosaurus "roar" (?).

Heads of dinosaurs
View attachment 68833
And it's allowed to touch a real dinosaur bone:
View attachment 68834

Part of the exhibition is also Austria's famous "Venus of Willendorf".
View attachment 68835
Here's more information about this statuette:
Venus of Willendorf - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There's also a replica of the Nebra sky disk - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
View attachment 68836
The real bronze disc was part of the exhibition ten years ago.

You can use a "Vulcano-pump" to make Mount Vesuvius erupt:
View attachment 68837
(Which we did, twice. )

Or touch the Moon, and read about Mars:
View attachment 68838

You'll have to make a much longer visit in the future. The museum looks much too interesting for a short visit.

 

[J. A.]

You'll have to make a much longer visit in the future. The museum looks much too interesting for a short visit.

You're right. It's not possible this year, though.

 

[The OB]

A very interesting presentation, thanks Johanna. It must be fascinating to see, and touch, something so old from a completely different age.
Andrew


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[J. A.]

A very interesting presentation, thanks Johanna. It must be fascinating to see, and touch, something so old from a completely different age.
Andrew


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

That was the reason why we visited this museum, and not it's twin. I've always been fascinated by Earth's history and geology, and to see and touch something from the past, is a dream come true.

Although there's a board, telling you're allowed to touch the bone, I only did it shortly and almost timidly. I don't know if Judith touched the bone at all. I'll have to repeat this when I visit the museum again, and I'll certainly "examine" the bone.

 

[J. A.]

NHMW, Part 2

I forgot to add one picture from the dinosaur exhibition. In one of the rooms, there's the forefoot of an ultrasaurus (herbivore). Judith is standing next to it, for comparison.

What else we found there:
A life-size model of a terror bird

Mammoths

Trilobites

Ammonites

A giant clam

The digital planetarium - the last performance was at 5:00 pm, so we missed that

A rotating globe, showing earthquakes and volcano eruptions on our planet

A model of the DNA

Soft tissue reconstructions of Australopithecus Africanus (no photo, sorry), homo erectus:

Homo sapiens (Cro Magnon)

The descriptions are in German and English, most of the time, rarely in German only:

There are places to sit down and gather information via documentaries

It's also possible to read (German or English) or hear interesting facts.

 

[scifan57]

NHMW, Part 2

I forgot to add one picture from the dinosaur exhibition. In one of the rooms, there's the forefoot of an ultrasaurus (herbivore). Judith is standing next to it, for comparison.
View attachment 68874

What else we found there:
A life-size model of a terror bird
View attachment 68875

Mammoths
View attachment 68876

Trilobites
View attachment 68877

Ammonites
View attachment 68878

A giant clam
View attachment 68879

The digital planetarium - the last performance was at 5:00 pm, so we missed that
View attachment 68880

A rotating globe, showing earthquakes and volcano eruptions on our planet
View attachment 68881

A model of the DNA
View attachment 68882

Soft tissue reconstructions of Australopithecus Africanus (no photo, sorry), homo erectus:
View attachment 68883

Homo sapiens (Cro Magnon)
View attachment 68884

The descriptions are in German and English, most of the time, rarely in German only:
View attachment 68885

There are places to sit down and gather information via documentaries
View attachment 68886
It's also possible to read (German or English) or hear interesting facts.

Part 2 is very interesting, and an even better incentive for anyone visiting Vienna to make sure they come to this museum.

 

[J. A.]

Part 2 is very interesting, and an even better incentive for anyone visiting Vienna to make sure they come to this museum.

It's certainly worth visiting.

What I skipped in my description, were the rooms with birds, reptiles, butterflies and other insects, mammals, ... animals that still exist, simply because we were almost "running" through these rooms because of the limited time.
There are also rooms with minerals and this:

(Wikiwand)
which make the museum interesting, imo.