View on ViatorPrivate Tour of the Kunsthistorisches Museum: Secrets of Masterpieces | Tickets included
The title of masterpiece gives a work of art a special status and if you are going to visit a museum for the first time, you want to see famous works by renowned masters. The Museum of the History of Art in Vienna has many paintings, gems and statues that count to the world famous masterpieces. They include paintings by Rembrandt, Cranach, Vermeer, Raphael and Caravaggio, sculptures by Canova, Gianbologna as well as works by ancient Greek and Roman artists. And you don't need experts to enjoy their works. This tour of the museum is for those who value both an aesthetic pleasure as well as an intellectual one. We will go through all the collections of one of the best art museums in the world and look at masterpieces from different perspectives to understand why this particular work, and not the neighbouring one, has made on the shortlist of must-see objects. To do this, we'll follow the museum's list of most valuable exhibits and I'll not only tell you their official histories and characteristics, I'll also explain how artists have used our cognition and clever self-promotion. We will also discuss the fickleness of worldly fame and the role of the spirit and the taste of the times. Among the major masterpieces we will break down in detail are Benvenuto Cellini's "Saliera", Raphael's "Madonna in the Meadow", Peter Brueghel's "The Tower of Babel" and "Hunters in the Snow", Caravaggio's "Madonna with Beads", Vermeer's "Allegory of Painting" as well as The Reserve Head from the Egyptian collection and Sarcophagus with Amazons from the Greek collection. On a tour with me you can not only enjoy the art, but also learn to navigate a little more in the intricacies of such a subtle matter as "genius".
Duration
3 hours
+ 2h airport buffer
Layover fit
Good for 4–6 hour layovers
Needs 5h total
Admission
YES
What you'll see
Attraction stop (3h)
‘The temple of art’ is the expression that describes the Art History Museum in Vienna the best. Even its architecture designed in the best traditions of historicism combines the details of temples from the three key Western cultures. This is the place where you will find all gods and heroes of the West European art Olympus, such as Arcimboldo, Brueghel, Velasquez, Holbein, Dürer, Giorgione, Cranach, Raphael, Rembrandt, Rubens, Titian (listed in alphabetical order). As any Western museum proclaiming itself universal, Kunsthistorisches Museum also features collections of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman art, as well as a numismatic cabinet. Moreover, a quarter of the exhibition space of the museum is occupied by the Cabinets of curiosities, a mixed exposition of indoor sculpture, church plate, decorative elements, and scientific instruments; all in all, everything considered unique and of special value. The museum’s curators have drawn up an informative list for visitors; including 700 masterpieces for local art lovers, 100 for recurring visitors, and 35 “must-see” pieces for newbies. With this art tour we follow the curators’ short list and take a very close look at globally celebrated masterpieces, from varying perspectives to understand what makes each art piece so very special.
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