From Vienna’s galleries

A tour of Vienna’s gallery scene is a journey through time spanning many centuries. It takes in everything from contemporary painting and Jugendstil arts and crafts, to Baroque and Biedermeier furniture.

Contemporary art lovers will find what they are looking for in Schleifmühlgasse, Vienna’s new modern art hotspot. Galleries like Kargl and Senn have all set up shop in this area, a stone’s throw from the flea market, where cognoscenti can still find true treasures. The galleries show work by foreign and Austrian artists including Richard Artschwager (Kargl), Marcus Geiger, Cosima von Bonin, Marko Lulic and Barbara Mungenast (Senn).

Vienna's Old Town is also home to numerous contemporary art galleries. Steinek has Gudrun Kampl and Matthias Herrmann under contract. Ulysses represents stars such as sculptors Joannis Avramidis and Bruno Gironcoli, and sells splatter paintings by Hermann Nitsch and overpaintings by Arnulf Rainer.

The gallery Mario Mauroner Contemporary Art (MAM) shows renowned artists of Austrian or international repute, specifically from Spain. Austrian artists - from Herbert Brandl to Bruno Gironcoli and Arnulf Rainer to Franz West - are also shown by the Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman Gallery. West and Rainer (as well as Joseph Beuys, Günter Brus and many more) can also be marveled at in the Konzett Gallery. The Galerie Suppan Fine Arts offers Damien Hirst, Arnulf Rainer, Franz West and many more.

Lovers of Jugendstil handicrafts dating back to about 1900 will be at the right address at Bel Etage in the city centre. Josef Hoffmann’s silver service, Michael Powolny’s ceramic cherubs, Lötz iridescent vases and complete interiors for living rooms and studies by Wiener Werkstätte designers all await their new owners there. Austrian masterpieces of the 19th and 20th centuries (including Klimt and Schiele) can be found in the Galerie Martin Suppan.

Furniture, antique clocks, paintings and crafts from the 18th and early 19th century can be found at the art dealer Stephan Andréewitch on Stallburggasse. The paintings offered by the gallery are primarily miniatures from the Biedermeier period, classical landscape paintings, and works by the old masters. Porcelain vases, candlesticks and "Zwischengoldglas" - glasses with gold leaf between two glass layers - from the Baroque to the Biedermeier periods round off the collection.