Augarten Contemporary

Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller

09 Jun - 11 Oct 2009

FERDINAND GEORG WALDMÜLLER

9 June to 11 October 2009
Lower Belvedere

Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller (1793 - 1865) was one of the most important Austrian painters of the Biedermeier period. Whether it was the conquest of the landscape and thus the convincing rendering of closeness or distance, the accurate characterisation of the human face, the detailed and refined description of textures, or the depiction of rural everyday life: his works ? brilliant, explanatory, moralising, and socially critical ? influenced a whole generation of artists. Being an advocate of natural observation and plein air painting, as well as a critic of academic painting, Waldmüller was far ahead of his time.
The Belvedere accommodates the Waldmüller Archive and owns the most comprehensive collections of his works worldwide. In this retrospective, starting in spring 2009 and comprising some 120 works, masterpieces from the Belvedere’s holdings will be complemented by loans from national and international collections. Several paintings that were thought to be lost will be presented to the public for the first time.
The exhibition is being organised in cooperation with the Musée du Louvre, Paris.