construction maison contemporaine 13

when so many people think about vienna, or when they come to visit here, they come because they want to revisit this exciting time and its history, when artists like gustav klimt and egon schiele were working here. in this episode, we’re going back to this period known as viennese modernism, when kaffeehaus culture was booming, when there were many developments in society, in architect, in music and in design. we’re going to see why viennese modernism is still modern today. i’m standing here with mr. weidinger, the vice director of the belvedere museum. he's going to show us the collection and tell us about its history.

the belvedere was founded by prince eugene. he was a very important general of the imperial army. he was very successful, and invested his money into palaces like this one. in 1903, one part of the belvedere became the so-called ‘modern gallery’. it was the very first museum for contemporary art in vienna. so now we’ve found our way to gustav klimt’s ‘the kiss’, which most people obviously know or at least recognise. it has continued to be eternally fascinating to multiple generations of people. maybe you could explain about the painting's history and why it’s so special?

why it’s so special? it’s really an amazing image, you know? everyone loves to kiss, so this is one of the reasons. another reason is of course, because klimt used a lot of gold. he used real gold and he used real silver as well. this makes the painting so special. when you look really carefully, it’s also a kind of a relief. it’s three dimensional, which makes it so special. what you see is real gold and different shapes, different surfaces and different colours.

this makes this one really, really special. what we see is klimt on the one hand and on the other hand is emilie flã¶ge. is it emilie flã¶ge? i read that people have different ideas of who it could be. - but it is emilie flã¶ge?- it is. we figured it out just several years ago. klimt was really bad at anatomy. you only see the kiss, there are legs which are badly done, but the rest of the paintings, there are no legs any more. we only have twelve schieles, but every single one is a masterpiece. the collection at the belvedere is focused more or less on the late works.

all works we see here and in the next room were done in world war i. we’re standing in the secession, in front of a beautiful model of the secession. can you explain why it sums up the spirit and energy of viennese modernism? there’s a reason: there was the artists’ association, called ‘kã¼nstlerhaus’. they got very deep into historicism, they wouldn’t change the art at all, they were very conservative. the young ones really hated this, and they had an idea to escape. one of the things i always loved about it, which you don’t totally see here, is the saying on the outside of the building.

when i first came here i didn't know what it exactly meant. but it is ‘every time has its art and every art should have its freedom’. and this is called the ‘cabbage head’ i never thought about it like that but it’s true. now we’ve come to the legendary beethoven frieze, which is obviously well known and a big part of this space. this is a masterpiece, this is one of the best works gustav klimt ever did. it was done in 1901, as part of the so called ‘beethoven exhibition’ in 1902. it shows the desire for happiness in the very destructive and bad world,

but then there’s hope of course. the golden knight, for example, is a symbol for hope. - we can see there on the right side behind her head is the penis.- ah, ok. when you look carefully you see every detail, even the shape, is there. he really used this quite often – he transformed genitals into ornaments. in vienna, you feel like you’re constantly surrounded by the work of otto wagner. can you tell us how he had such an important role in the city's development? because he was a visionary. this is the most important thing about him. when you walk through vienna,

every time you will be confronted by a house made by him or designed by him. especially here in front of the two houses majolikahaus and the other one here. they were built just one year after the secession was finished. his vision was to build a boulevard from karlsplatz to schã¶nbrunn, but it didn’t work out. he just made a few houses, but they’re really wonderful. there were many artists who dealt with 'gesamtkunstwerk', koloman moser for example, was really a leading figure and he was a founder of the 'wiener werkstã¤tte'.

he was very famous in the idea of the total work of art. everything has to be designed, the faã§ade, the interior or the balcony, the dress, everything. even the toilet! so this was total work of art in the best sense. thank you so much for introducing some of the most beautiful aspects of the city. - it was really fun.- you’re welcome. it was a pleasure meeting you. - it was really a pleasure as well. have a nice day. see you, bye.