{"id":84519,"date":"2025-06-30T12:57:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T11:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/?p=84519"},"modified":"2026-03-08T20:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T19:50:08","slug":"line-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/line-exhibition\/","title":{"rendered":"The Line exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/thelinesmall.jpg\" alt=\"Black lines on a mottled background\" class=\"wp-image-84523\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/thelinesmall.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/thelinesmall-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>What can you say about the line in art? Rather a lot. The Heidi Horten Collection shows how this formative element has evolved into a multifaceted, flexible tool, motif, and vehicle in all sorts of genres and media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Features works by numerous notable names<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Basquiat, Klimt, Warhol, Hockney &amp; many more<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Runs Sept 19, 2025 &#8211; Mar 8, 2026<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>See also:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/heidi-horten-collection\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"47637\">Heidi Horten Collection overview<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/entertainment\/events\/exhibitions\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"37363\">Art exhibitions<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A fundamental element<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"308\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/theline3.jpg\" alt=\"Portrait by Henri Matisse\" class=\"wp-image-84522\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/theline3.jpg 308w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/theline3-231x300.jpg 231w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 308px) 100vw, 308px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Henri Matisse, Portrait de Rosabianca Skira, 1948 \u00a9 Succession H. Matisse \/ Bildrecht, Wien 2024)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Simplicity hides complexity, as anyone knows who has tried to unravel the statement &#8220;I love you.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So we have the line&#8230;a connection between two points in space. Perhaps straight. Perhaps not (especially if you&#8217;re <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/footsteps\/hundertwasser-guide\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"21493\">Hundertwasser<\/a>, who described the straight line as godless).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Think of the line in art, and we imagine the outline in drawing: a tool to define a form. But we swiftly move into complexity. Even in a simple drawing, shading lines serve as a means of giving structure and three-dimensionality to the image.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"364\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/theline1.jpg\" alt=\"Basquiat painting\" class=\"wp-image-84520\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/theline1.jpg 364w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/theline1-273x300.jpg 273w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 364px) 100vw, 364px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Jean-Michel Basquiat, Red Savoy, 1983 \u00a9 The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat, 2024)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that&#8217;s just the beginning of a voyage through the role of this fundamental element in art, as the <em>The Line<\/em> exhibition at the Heidi Horten Collection demonstrates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The simple definer of reality becomes, for example, a tool in abstraction or a subject in its own right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps the line slips the constraining leash of the stroke and paper or canvas to appear in performance art or installations, as in Richard Long&#8217;s 1967 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tate.org.uk\/art\/artworks\/long-a-line-made-by-walking-p07149\">A Line Made by Walking<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"338\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/theline2.jpg\" alt=\"Art by Lucio Fontana\" class=\"wp-image-84521\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/theline2.jpg 338w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/theline2-254x300.jpg 254w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 338px) 100vw, 338px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Lucio Fontana, Concetto Spaziale Attese, 1966 \u00a9 Fondation Lucio Fontana, Milano, Bildrecht Wien)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or the opposing duality as both connector and separator allows the line&#8217;s use in commentary and metaphor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The exhibition tackles the multifaceted nature and artistic evolution of the line in a series of themed sections, and it features numerous works by renowned artists creating in different decades and various contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We see, for example, Paul Klee&#8217;s 1930 <em>Geschwister<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"256\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/theline4.jpg\" alt=\"Artwork by Paul Klee\" class=\"wp-image-84525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/theline4.jpg 256w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/theline4-192x300.jpg 192w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 256px) 100vw, 256px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Paul Klee, Geschwister, 1930, Heidi Horten Collection \u00a9 Bildrecht, Wien, 2023)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That work feels particularly important in this context, since a text about drawing by the artist provides a starting point for the exhibition and, if I recall right, <em>Geschwister<\/em> won the popular vote when the Heidi Horten Collection selected works for its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/klimt-warhol-exhibition\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"75543\">permanent exhibition<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The other names whose works illustrate each section promise both diversity and quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Basquiat and Bulloch. Haring and Hockney. Fontana and Freud. Klimt and Kowanz. Schiele and Shiota (with a site-specific participative installation). Picasso, Warhol, Degas, and more. An excellent line up (ba dum tish, I&#8217;m here all week, try the salmon souffle).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"tickets\">Dates, tickets &amp; tips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Walk the line from September 19th, 2025 to March 8th, 2026. An entrance ticket from or for the Heidi Horten Collection includes the exhibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A couple of artists featured have exhibitions elsewhere in Vienna for at least some of the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Light artist Brigitte Kowanz, for example, has a solo exhibition at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/albertina\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"2995\">the Albertina<\/a> with provisional dates of July 18th to November 9th, 2025. Klimt and Schiele are, of course, mainstays over at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sightseeing\/vienna-museums\/belvedere\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"3308\">Belvedere<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/leopold-museum\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"4014\">Leopold<\/a> art museums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to get there<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The location is very central and a neighbour to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/entertainment\/opera\/staatsoper\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"1071\">State Opera House<\/a>, Albertina, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sightseeing\/hofburg\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"2708\">Hofburg palace complex<\/a>. Check <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/heidi-horten-collection\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"47637\">my overview page<\/a> for travel tips, but the tram stop Burgring (on the 1, 2, D and 71 lines) or Karlsplatz subway station (on the U1, U2 and U4 lines) are strong options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Address: Hanuschgasse 3, 1010 Vienna<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/u\/0\/embed?mid=1asmHlbVpicbQLt1557vf6l4l0zQ\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Works by Basquiat, Klimt, and others reveal how the line evolved into a multifaceted element of all sorts of art<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84523,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-84519","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-museums","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84519"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89106,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84519\/revisions\/89106"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}