Curator-Guided Tour Gustav Klimt, the MAK, and Immendorf Castle

Burnt, Destroyed, Vanished?

Curator: Rainald Franz, Curator MAK Glass and Ceramics Collection

8 May 1945 not only marks the end of the Second World War, it also stands for one of the greatest losses in cultural assets in Austrian history, triggered by a devastating fire that ravaged Immendorf Castle in Lower Austria. The exhibition offers profound insight into the sheer scale of the disaster.

Fri, 18.7.2025 4.30 pm — 5.30 pm

MAK – Museum of Applied Arts

Registration closed

Gustav Klimt, Hygieia—detail from the faculty painting Medicine

Black and white photo of the Immendorf Castle fire ruins

In addition to the three faculty paintings for the Main Ceremonial Hall of the University of Vienna with the corresponding composition designs, the works that were burned include the overdoor paintings Music (1897/98) and Schubert at the Piano (1899) from the Palais of Nikolaus Dumba on Vienna’s Ringstraße as well as the paintings The Golden Apple Tree (1903), Farm Garden with Crucifix (1912), Portrait of Wally (1916), Women Friends 2 (1916/17), Garden Path with Chickens (1916), and Leda (1917) from the expropriated collection of August and Serena Lederer.

Alongside original plans and a new architectural model of the castle, the exhibition will show a new film documentary on the events at Immendorf Castle with interviews with witnesses of the period. Original documents such as recovery lists kept at the MAK and valuable archive material provide further profound insights into the events.

An exhibition of the MAK in cooperation with the Klimt Foundation, Vienna

FEE FOR GUIDED TOUR

€ 5,50

MEETING PLACE

MAK Columned Main Hall