![\"Kunstforum](\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/kunstforumtickets.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nSandwiched halfway between a 12th-century monastery and a 14th-century church in Vienna’s historic centre is an institution with a rather more modern flavour to it: the Kunstforum Wien. Think Magritte rather than monks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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- Venue for international art exhibitions\n
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- …eras range from the late-19th century to today<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Renowned artists often feature\n
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- e.g. Kandinsky, Kahlo, Gauguin, Chagall, Warhol…<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- What special exhibitions are on<\/a>?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- See also:\n
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- Vienna museums<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Selected previous Kunstforum exhibitions<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Contemporary art<\/a> in Vienna<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
International art venue<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n![\"Kunstforum](\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/kunstforumwien.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n(The building on the Freyung square)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien fits snugly into the historical surrounds of the Freyung at the heart of old Vienna. Although the building is “only” just over a hundred years’ old, documents suggest the first house on the site went up no later than the early 15th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It seems a little trite to call the place an “exhibition space” but that’s what it is, with a clear focus on a creative period that begins with the diverse genres of late 19th-century art and continues all the way through to the present day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The location has no permanent exhibition, but instead hosts a series of staggered temporary exhibitions (one or two at a time), commonly presenting works from prestigious private collections and museums.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/kunstforumnight.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n(All lit up at night with the Austriabrunnen fountain<\/a> in the foreground)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, for example, one Picasso exhibition featured paintings from the personal collection of Bernhard Picasso.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And a Chagall exhibition displayed works loaned by such institutions as Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery, St. Petersburg’s State Russian Museum, New York’s Guggenheim and MOMA museums, Paris’s Centre Pompidou, and London’s Tate Gallery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A brief review of the many past events reveals other such resonant names as Monet, Manet, Matta, Man Ray, Magritte, Motherwell and Mir\u00f3, Klimt, Kahlo, Kokoshka and Kandinsky, Degas and Dal\u00ed, Warhol, Lichtenstein, Bacon, Richter, Hockney, Sherman, Newton, Gauguin…the list goes on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, as you can tell, you have a good chance of finding something rather special inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tickets, exhibitions & tips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The final exhibition at the Freyung site ended in August 2025. The Kunstforum there is now closed: the institution hopes to reappear at another location in the future, but details are still being worked out at the time of writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Exhibition schedule<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n![\"Kogelnik](\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/kogelnik1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n(Kiki Kogelnik, Self Portrait, 1964 Private Collection; press photo courtesy of Kiki Kogelnik Foundation \u00a9 Kiki Kogelnik Foundation. The Kogelnik solo exhibition took centre stage in the first half of 2023)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The current exhibition schedule is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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- TBA<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
A few tidbits of info:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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- Other institutions in Vienna that also feature international exhibitions with major names in modern and contemporary art include the Albertina<\/a>, the Albertina Modern<\/a>, the Heidi Horten Collection<\/a>, Belvedere<\/a>, and the Leopold Museum<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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- For an overview of the main contemporary art exhibitions in the city’s museums, see here<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Oh, and those two old locations mentioned in the introduction?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One is the Schottenstift<\/em>, a Benedictine monastery on the other side of the square. The other is the Kirche am Hof<\/a>, a church a short walk away and now home to the Croatian Catholic Mission to Vienna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How to get to the Kunstforum<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
It’s hard to find a more central art museum than this one. The Freyung<\/a> square is just off the historical centre of medieval Vienna and famous for its Christmas<\/a> and Easter<\/a> markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Walk on toward the centre from the Kunstforum and you immediately reach Am Hof<\/a> square, which is so old they keep finding Roman ruins beneath it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Subway: either take the U3 line to Herrengasse station or the U2 line to Schottentor station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bus\/tram: Schottentor has more trams than a transport museum. Lines 1, D, 71, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43 and 44 all stop here. The 1A bus also starts there and takes you one stop to Teinfaltstra\u00dfe close to the museum. Or take the 1A or 2A to the Herrengasse stop (just outside the wonderful Caf\u00e9 Central<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Address: Freyung 8, 1010 Vienna<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- For an overview of the main contemporary art exhibitions in the city’s museums, see here<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Other institutions in Vienna that also feature international exhibitions with major names in modern and contemporary art include the Albertina<\/a>, the Albertina Modern<\/a>, the Heidi Horten Collection<\/a>, Belvedere<\/a>, and the Leopold Museum<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Selected previous Kunstforum exhibitions<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- See also:\n