The Beauty of Diversity moves in the field of tension between an established understanding of art and its renewal. The exhibition unfolds its persuasive power in the juxtaposition of renowned artists who have always wanted to strain the canon and yet have become canonised, and new discoveries as well as those who irritate viewing habits, swim against the tide, shake the foundations of high culture, break the norm and thus establish the aesthetics of diversity.

The master of the Renaissance: Michelangelo is one of that handful of artists whose fame has remained unbroken for centuries. Although his art and ideals are deeply rooted in the thinking of his time – the heyday of the Renaissance and the advancing 16th century – the impact of his art extends to the present day.

ALBERTINA MODERN’s major fall exhibition is dedicated to outstanding artists from both countries. However, it does not focus on the long history that connects us, but allows important collection positions of the ALBERTINA to enter into an exciting dialogue in a direct juxtaposition – for example Maria Lassnig with Georg Baselitz, Arnulf Rainer with Gerhard Richter, Franz West with Sigmar Polke.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his death, the ALBERTINA commemorates Pablo Picasso – the greatest and most influential artist of the 20th century: a trailblazer for the first half of the century with Cubism, a major representative of Symbolism with his Blue Period, the pioneer of Classicism in the 1920s, and the ideal for the Neo-Expressionist movements of the 1980s with his late work. His oeuvre of approximately 50,000 works reflects the vast political changes and fast-moving avant-garde movements of his era from the turn of the century to the early 1970s.

Jackson Pollock to Maria Lassnig: 15.10. 2022 – 22.1. 2023 – The end of the Second World War also marks a turning point in modern painting: the ALBERTINA MODERN’s autumn exhibition is dedicated to Abstract Expressionism of the New York School, which celebrated a brilliant triumph in Europe after 1945. As an expression of individual Freedom gives the spontaneous artistic gesture great meaning and symbolic charge.