short and sweet: Gustav Klimt, the MAK, and Immendorf Castle

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. Even today, the events surrounding the fire in the country seat of the Freudenthal family, which served as a valuable and seemingly safe art storage depot in the Second World War, have not been fully clarified. The exhibition offers profound insight into the sheer scale of the disaster.

Tue, 9.9.2025 6.15 pm — 6.45 pm

MAK – Museum of Applied Arts

Gustav Klimt, Hygieia—detail from the faculty painting Medicine

Recovery box of the State Arts and Crafts Museum in Vienna

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), Country Garden with Calvary (1912), Wally (1916), Friends II (1916/17), Garden Path with Chickens (1916), and Leda (1917) from the expropriated collection of August and Serena Lederer.

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

Language: The tour is held in German.
Duration: 30 min.
Tour fee: € 3 + admission to the museum
Admission every Tuesday 6–9 pm
€ 8
€ 7.50 online
Meeting point: MAK Columned Main Hall
No registration necessary