Why Vienna Is Europe’s Finest Artwork Metropolis

Neglect Florence—too crowded. Paris? They coined an entire time period, the Mona Lisa Impact, to explain the letdown of seeing its artwork in individual. Berlin is grey and dreary, and its scene has now been declared “useless” extra instances than I can depend (RIP).

What if I instructed you there was a metropolis boasting creative treasures of each sort? Behold Vienna—or Wien, because it’s recognized regionally (anglophones, brace your self for the inevitable dick jokes).

I’ve been to Vienna near a dozen instances and nonetheless haven’t seen all of it. That’s outstanding, provided that it’s among the many most walkable cities I’ve visited. It’s bikeable, too, with lanes that really feel correctly protected even for the risk-averse, and municipal bikes are free to lease for the primary half-hour.

As for the artwork—the place to begin? Maybe firstly, with the Venus of Willendorf, a 30,000-year-old limestone determine and one of many oldest and most well-preserved examples of Paleolithic artwork. And it wasn’t even looted: It was unearthed in Willendorf, Austria. Now, it’s a part of the everlasting assortment of Vienna’s Naturhistorisches Museum (Pure Historical past Museum).

Stroll throughout a grand backyard—lush in spring, host to a Christmas market in winter—and also you’ll arrive on the Kunsthistorisches Museum (free German lesson: kunst means “artwork”). If you happen to’re speed-walking in your Hokas and have time for just one cease, make it the Bruegel room. Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s famed snowscapes and The (Nice) Tower of Babel (1563) are displayed right here earlier than what will be the most comfy museum seating anyplace—velvet couches parked proper in entrance of the work, inviting you to linger. Viewing artwork is all of the extra enjoyable with a aim or a sport, and Bruegel is ideal for enjoying I-Spy. Problem your self to seek out the waffles in The Struggle Between Carnival and Lent (1559)—the earliest recognized depiction of the deal with. (Trace: They’re worn on somebody’s head.)

Simply throughout the road is the MuseumsQuartier. I don’t suppose I’ve ever seen a nasty—and even mediocre—present at MUMOK or Kunsthalle Wien, each devoted to momentary exhibitions of contemporary and modern artwork. But when it’s your first time, you’ll be able to’t miss the Leopold Museum. The place to start: Egon Schiele or Gustav Klimt? Each are well worth the hype, however I’ve a controversial favourite—Josef Hoffmann. Like most informal admirers, I’m often extra simply seduced by work than by furnishings. Not in Vienna. And that’s no slight to the work; the designed objects are merely that good.

You hardly want to go to a museum to see nice artwork: Fin-de-siècle Wiener Werkstätte designs line the town’s cafés, that are in all places and an absolute should. For a slice of artwork historical past along with your mélange, attempt Café Museum, with an inside by Adolf Loos, the architect well-known for declaring decoration a criminal offense. If solely we may replay the conversations as soon as had there, amongst luminaries from Freud and Kokoschka to Klimt and Schiele. (For extra of the latter two, head to the Belvedere—a museum housed in a palace, with a putting backyard main all the way down to one more modern artwork museum.)

There’s one massive, dangerous motive it’s all so nicely preserved: Vienna stays extra intact than many different European capitals as a result of, when the Nazis arrived on March 12, 1938—a night remembered because the Anschluss—they have been met with little resistance. Hitler, born in Linz, was merely coming residence. Town was not solely spared from bombing: The inside of Vienna’s Nineteenth-century opera home, the place Mozart’s Don Giovanni premiered, was restored after American munitions set the stage ablaze. However in any other case, it’s remarkably nicely preserved.

The heyday of Viennese tradition ended abruptly with the Nazi takeover: Its protagonists both fled, have been killed, or colluded with the regime. However one other heyday is upon us. Town’s gallery scene is flourishing, with newcomers like Vin Vin and Felix Gaudlitz alongside blue-chip stalwarts corresponding to Eva Presenhuber. Two annual festivals of up to date artwork—Vienna Artwork Week in November and Curated By in September—are perfect instances to go to, should you’re curious concerning the current and revel in good climate. And if you’re, make a reservation at Das LOFT, the place video artist Pipilotti Rist designed a mesmerizing ceiling.

Regardless of who you’re, don’t miss Kunst Haus Wien; except you’re already a Hundertwasser-head, you’ve by no means seen a constructing prefer it. Friedensreich Hundertwasser—a unusual, ecologically minded artist and architect who ate a strict weight loss plan of nettles—transformed a former manufacturing unit, the place the Bistro chair was invented, into an undulating mosaic meant to merge nature and humanity, in and out. Vienna isn’t precisely a foodie metropolis—except you’re interested by bat schnitzel—however the café right here is value a cease. And don’t miss his different constructing, Hundertwasserhaus, simply across the nook.

If combining nature with tradition is your fancy, you gained’t must look far. You may enter a park via a gate deal with formed like a Belgian endive or spot sculpted leaves climbing the handrail in your Airbnb. On the Museum of Utilized Arts, you’ll discover extra traditional examples. Don’t miss all issues Jugendstil—the Germanic model of Artwork Nouveau, far much less saccharine and extra elegant than its French counterpart.

My suggestions could possibly be limitless, however I’ll finish with a traditional: the Vienna Secession. The constructing is putting—potted bushes steadiness on sculpted turtles on the entrance, and a golden orb of leaves crowns the roof—and the establishment remains to be artist-run, with a committee voting on who will get exhibits. This seems to be a superb system: Present after present is a banger. And if I haven’t satisfied you but, one final thing: Austrian wine, for my style, is the very best on the earth, and it’s scarcely exported.