Sackstrasse 16
Tel. 0316- 829 155
Open: Tue- Sun
The Neue Galerie Graz is part of the
Universalmuseum Joanneum and shows predominantly contemporary art.
The gallery was created in 1941 by the division of the Joanneum in
1811 in an Old and New Gallery, the latter took over the holdings of
the 19th and 20th centuries in the Palais Herberstein on Sackstraße
16 as a new museum department. The Stadtpalais was rebuilt by the
famous baroque architect Josef Hueber before the middle of the 18th
century and adapted for the princes of Eggenberg and in the
succession to the Counts of Herberstein. When its existence was
endangered, it was saved by Hans Riehl (1941-1955), the first
director of the Neue Galerie, who achieved the dedication of the
house as a museum. The following leaders wereWalter Koschatzky
(1956-1962), Trude Aldrian (1963-1965), Wilfried Skreiner
(1966-1992), Werner Fenz (1993-1997), Peter Weibel (1998) and
Christa Steinle (1998-2011). Weibel was responsible as Chief Curator
for numerous large exhibitions until 2011.
Due to the
restructuring measures of the Universalmuseum Joanneum, which were
carried out for budgetary reasons, the Neue Galerie Graz was merged
with the Kunsthaus Graz in 2011 to form the department "Modern and
Contemporary Art", which is headed by Peter Peer. Also in 2011, the
relocation of the Neue Galerie took place in its new location, the
Joanneumsviertel.
Origins in the Joanneum (1811–1895)
The Neue Galerie’s roots lie
in the Landesmuseum Joanneum, established on 26 November 1811 by
Archduke Johann of Austria (1782–1859). This was Austria’s first public
museum, created as a center for education, research, and enlightenment
in the spirit of the Enlightenment and post-Napoleonic reforms. Archduke
Johann, a progressive Habsburg prince and Styrian governor, donated his
own collections and encouraged gifts from the imperial court and local
nobility to build a comprehensive Landesmuseum that would serve the
public good.
The art collections that would later form the Neue
Galerie originated from two main sources integrated into the Joanneum:
the painting gallery of the Estates Drawing Academy (founded earlier in
the 18th century) and the Joanneum’s own accumulating art holdings.
Early acquisitions focused on 19th-century works—Biedermeier, Realism,
and related movements—through donations and purchases. These included
portraits, landscapes, and genre scenes by artists such as Ferdinand
Georg Waldmüller (a key Austrian Biedermeier figure) and others tied to
Styrian and broader Austrian traditions. By the late 19th century, the
collections had outgrown their original spaces in the historic Joanneum
buildings on Raubergasse.
In response, a dedicated museum building
was constructed between 1890 and 1895 along Neutorgasse in Graz
(directly behind the Lesliehof). Designed in a neo-Baroque style by
architect August Gunold, it became known as the “New Joanneum.” This
structure was purpose-built to house the growing art collections
alongside other Joanneum departments. It marked the first major
architectural investment in the museum’s art holdings and symbolized the
institution’s expansion during the late Habsburg era.
1941:
Formal Creation of the Neue Galerie
The pivotal moment in the
gallery’s independent identity came in 1941, during the Nazi era’s
administrative reorganizations in Austria (then part of the German
Reich). The historic Landesbildergalerie (Provincial Picture Gallery),
which had existed as a unified entity within the Joanneum since 1811,
was formally divided into two separate institutions:
The Alte
Galerie (Old Gallery): Covering medieval to Baroque art up to around
1800.
The Neue Galerie (New Gallery): Encompassing Neoclassicism,
Romanticism, Realism, Jugendstil (Art Nouveau), and modern art from the
19th century onward.
The Neue Galerie inherited the post-1800
holdings and was relocated to the Palais Herberstein at Sackstraße 16, a
grand Baroque city palace originally remodeled in the mid-18th century
by architect Josef Hueber for the Princes of Eggenberg and later the
Counts of Herberstein. The first director, Hans Riehl (1941–1955),
played a crucial role in securing the palace’s designation as a museum,
thereby saving the historic building from potential demolition or
repurposing amid wartime pressures. This move established the Neue
Galerie as a distinct modern-art institution while maintaining its ties
to the broader Joanneum.
Postwar Expansion and Leadership
(1950s–2010)
After World War II, the Neue Galerie entered a phase of
steady growth, particularly from the 1960s onward, transforming into a
hub for contemporary art. Economic challenges after World War I had
created gaps in the collection (especially around 1900 and the interwar
period), though standout acquisitions included a major Egon Schiele
painting (Stadtende) and graphic works by Gustav Klimt, Schiele, and
Oskar Kokoschka. Public and private collecting converged powerfully
here: state purchases (often via the Austrian Chancellor’s Office art
section) were supplemented by donations and intellectual input from
private collectors, giving the institution its international reputation.
Key directors shaped its trajectory (full list from official records and
historical accounts):
Hans Riehl (1941–1955): Stabilized the
institution in its new home.
Walter Koschatzky (1956–1962): Focused
on early postwar consolidation.
Trude Aldrian (1963–1965): Short
tenure bridging to broader programming.
Wilfried Skreiner
(1966–1992): Longest-serving director; dramatically internationalized
the collection through initiatives like the Internationale Malerwochen
in Styria (International Painting Weeks, 1966–1992) and the
Trigon-Biennalen (1963–1995). These programs emphasized post-1945
Austrian and international painting, including from the “Trigon”
countries (Austria, Italy, Yugoslavia).
Werner Fenz (1993–1997):
Continued thematic and contemporary focus.
Peter Weibel (1998; chief
curator) and Christa Steinle (1998–2011): Oversaw a strong emphasis on
media, conceptual, and experimental art, including Viennese Actionism,
Fluxus, Happenings, and new media. Weibel, a prominent theorist, curated
major international shows.
From the 1950s–1980s, programs like
the Joanneum-Kunstpreis (introduced 1959) actively supported
acquisitions. The gallery became known for championing emerging artists
who later achieved global fame, with solo exhibitions for figures such
as Félix González-Torres, Rudolf Stingel, Pipilotti Rist, Sylvie Fleury,
William Kentridge, and Olafur Eliasson—often years before they were
widely recognized elsewhere. Thematic group shows like KontextKunst
(1993), Pittura Immedia (1995), Jenseits von Kunst (1996–1998), and
others explored conceptual, political, and interdisciplinary themes.
Retrospectives highlighted Styrian and Austrian mid-career artists
(e.g., Herbert Brandl, Erwin Wurm, Günter Brus). Additional programs
included the “studio” series for young, emerging Austrian artists and an
Artist-in-Residence initiative.
The collection expanded across media
to include Biedermeier, Realism, Jugendstil, regional classical
modernism, post-1945 painting, Actionism, media/conceptual art, and
beyond. A major milestone was the development of the BRUSEUM: early
exhibitions on Brus and Actionism began in the 1990s (when the
collection held only a few of his drawings), but a dedicated push in the
late 1990s–2000s—led by patrons, the Friends of the Neue Galerie
society, and Styrian arts official Dr. Kurt Flecker—resulted in a
substantial acquisition. A formal contract for the BRUSEUM was signed
around 2008, creating a research and exhibition focus on Brus’s
avant-garde oeuvre.
Until 2003, selections of 19th- and 20th-century
works were also displayed at Schloss Eggenberg palace (e.g., the
exhibition Von Waldmüller bis Schiele).
2011–Present: The
Joanneumsviertel Era and Current Status
For the Joanneum’s
bicentennial in 2011, a major urban redevelopment project transformed
the museum quarter into the Joanneumsviertel. The historic 1895
Neutorgasse building—originally built for the collections—was
extensively renovated to modern standards (with over 2,000 m² of
exhibition space). The Neue Galerie returned to this site, now
architecturally integrated via underground passages and links with the
original Raubergasse Joanneum buildings (home to the Natural History
Museum and CoSA – Center of Science Activities). This move reunited
parts of the original collections under one roof while providing
state-of-the-art facilities.
Budget-driven restructuring in 2011
merged the Neue Galerie with the Kunsthaus Graz into a single “Modern
and Contemporary Art” department, initially under Peter Peer (who
continues to lead). The BRUSEUM received its permanent home here, with
phased installations offering deep insight into Brus’s development and
influence on the Austrian and international avant-garde. The gallery
continues to present rotating highlights from the collection (e.g.,
Selection: Highlights from the Collection, ongoing into 2028), temporary
exhibitions (often thematic or solo shows), and the “studio” series for
emerging artists. It maintains a balance between historical 19th-century
works and cutting-edge contemporary practice, including photography,
video, and installation.
Significance and Legacy
The Neue
Galerie Graz exemplifies the fruitful interplay of public institutional
collecting and private patronage. Its history mirrors broader Austrian
cultural shifts—from Habsburg enlightenment ideals, through 20th-century
political upheavals and postwar internationalization, to today’s focus
on global contemporary dialogue. With its emphasis on both regional
Styrian identities (e.g., Brus) and international voices (Duchamp,
Rauschenberg, Sandback, and many others), it serves as a vital bridge
between 19th-century traditions and 21st-century art. The collection’s
scale—paintings (ca. 2,500), sculptures (ca. 650), graphics (ca.
40,000), and multimedia—makes it one of Austria’s largest and most
comprehensive modern-art repositories.
The gallery sees it as its cultural mission to inform the public
about the status of current art production at regional, national and
international level through exhibitions and symposia. Large programmatic
collective exhibitions create a meeting forum for local and foreign
artists and illuminate socially and politically current topics in
well-founded reappraisals:
"Context Art", 1993
"Pittura Immedia."
Paintings from the 90s from the USA and Europe, 1995
"Beyond Art",
1996/1997/1998
"The Anagrammatic Body", 1999
"In the field of
letters - The future of literature", 2001
"In Search of Balkania",
2002
"Phantom of Lust/The Sacher-Masoch-Festival and M-ARS-Art and
War", 2003
"RAF - On the Idea of Terror", 2005
"Slum", 2006/2007
In personal exhibitions, the gallery defines the broad field of
investigation of art in all media of expression such as painting,
sculpture, photography, digital media, video and film art, object art,
installations or architecture. For example, many years before other
museums, the Neue Galerie welcomed young artists who today are among the
established stars of the art scene, such as Large solo exhibitions are
dedicated to artists such as Félix González-Torres, Rudolf Stingel,
Pipilotti Rist, Sylvie Fleury, William Kentridge and Olafur Eliasson.
Since 2002, Styrian artists of the middle generation, whose work already
enjoys an international reputation, have found a forum in retrospective
personal exhibitions, including names such as Herbert Brandl, Erwin
Wurm, Rudi Molacek, Günter Brus, Hans Kupelwieser, Fritz Panzer, Erwin
Bohatsch, Hubert Schmalix.
Young Austrian artists who are not yet
established in the art world are given the opportunity to present their
work in the exhibition series in the studio of the Neue Galerie. Mostly
Austrian artists from the first half of the 20th century are exhibited
in the court gallery. shown that are related to the Neue Galerie
collection, e.g. B. Ida Maly, Franz Krausz, Lily Greenham. With the
art-historical processing of their works, reference can be made to
interesting positions that would otherwise have been forgotten. The Neue
Galerie's "Artist in Residence" program offers three international
artists per year the opportunity to live and work in Graz for a period
of time and then to present the resulting products to the public.
The Neue Galerie endeavors to accompany and underpin its exhibitions
with additional theoretical events.
The collection’s roots trace back to the Joanneum, founded in 1811 by
Archduke Johann of Austria. Early 19th-century acquisitions included
gifts from the Archduke, the imperial court, and local nobility,
establishing a strong foundation in 19th-century Austrian painting
(especially landscapes and Biedermeier/Realist works). The painting
gallery of the Estates Drawing Academy and the Joanneum’s own art
holdings were initially housed together in the Neutorgasse building,
erected in 1895.
In 1941, the Landesbildergalerie (Provincial Picture
Gallery) was formally divided: the Alte Galerie took pre-1800 works
(medieval to Baroque), while the Neue Galerie received everything from
Neoclassicism onward. The collection later moved temporarily to the
Palais Herberstein before returning to its current integrated site
during the 2011 Joanneum Quarter redevelopment.
Post-World War I
economic challenges slowed growth, leaving some gaps around 1900 and the
interwar period (though exceptions include key Egon Schiele paintings
and drawings by Gustav Klimt, Schiele, and Oskar Kokoschka). Expansion
resumed strongly from the 1960s–1980s onward through initiatives like
the Joanneum-Kunstpreis (since 1959), the Internationale Malerwochen in
Styria (since 1966), and the Trigon-Biennale, which broadened the
international contemporary focus. Today, collecting emphasizes Austrian
and international contemporary art alongside selective enrichment of the
19th-century holdings. Acquisitions, donations, and private patronage
(including support from the Chancellery’s art section) continue to drive
growth.
Composition and Scope of the Collection
The Neue
Galerie Graz is notable for its scale and media diversity:
~2,500
paintings
~650 sculptures
~40,000 original and printed
drawings/graphic works (one of the largest such holdings in Austria)
~1,500 photographic works
Extensive video, media art, installations,
and other contemporary formats
The collection blends regional
Styrian voices with nationally and internationally significant artists.
It is particularly strong in Austrian 19th-century landscape and genre
painting (e.g., works by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Friedrich Amerling,
Thomas Ender, and Friedrich Gauermann), Austrian Modernism (including
Biedermeier/Realism, Jugendstil/Art Nouveau, and Expressionism), and
post-1945 to contemporary art. International holdings feature artists
such as Yves Klein, Kiki Kogelnik, Shirin Neshat, Liu Xiaodong, Marcel
Duchamp, Robert Rauschenberg, and Fred Sandback. Recent decades have
seen major gifts and purchases, including important works by Maria
Lassnig and Arnulf Rainer.
BRUSEUM: A Dedicated Focus on Günter
Brus
A standout feature is the BRUSEUM, a separate collection and
research center within the Neue Galerie dedicated to world-renowned
Styrian action artist Günter Brus (born 1938 in Ardning, Styria) and his
influence on the Viennese Actionism movement and broader avant-garde. In
1992, the gallery held its first major exhibition of Brus and the
Actionists, when it owned only three drawings by him. Major acquisitions
began in the late 1990s (via the Society of Friends of the Neue Galerie
and patron Dr. Hellmut Czerny), accelerating in the 2000s through
targeted purchases, including the 36-part pictorial poem cycle Venus im
Pelz (2003) and Friedrich von Schlegel. Zehn Sonette (2005). In 2008, a
dedicated €1,003,600 budget enabled the formal establishment of the
BRUSEUM, which opened in 2011.
At opening, holdings included 19
films, 1,181 individual photos documenting 19 actions, 39
cycles/pictorial poems (499 sheets total), plus action sketches,
drawings, editions, and publications. By 2009 it had also acquired
Brus’s extensive literary archive: over 700 notebooks, manuscripts, and
designs with more than 20,000 written pages, along with copies of all
his action photo negatives. The collection continues to grow via
donations, loans, and purchases.
The BRUSEUM serves as both a
permanent exhibition space (currently with limited access—only the first
room open, with phased expansion planned) and a research institution. It
examines Brus’s work in all its complexity (paintings, actions,
drawings, poetry, and writings) alongside its impact on Austrian and
international contemporary art. Changing exhibitions, symposia, and a
planned digital database integrate the œuvre with the broader Neue
Galerie archives.
Current Presentation and Visitor Experience
Since November 2024, a long-term permanent display titled Selection:
Highlights from the Collection (running through December 2028) showcases
around 300 outstanding works from the holdings. It provides a
chronological and thematic journey from 1800 to the present,
incorporating both longstanding treasures (e.g., Egon Schiele’s
Stadtende / Edge of Town, Herbert Boeckl’s Erzberg / Ore Mountain) and
newer acquisitions/donations. Earlier large-scale presentations like
Show! (2024) and public voting on favorites (which highlighted Schiele,
Boeckl, Maria Egner’s poppy-field landscapes, Liu Xiaodong’s Trees
Growing Out of Swimming Pool, and Yves Klein’s Venus Bleue) underscored
the collection’s public appeal.
Temporary exhibitions frequently draw
from or complement the permanent holdings, often focusing on Styrian
artists, contemporary themes, or cross-media dialogues. The museum also
maintains a specialized library with over 70,000 items (catalogues,
periodicals, etc.).
In order to keep the interest of the public alive and as a reaction
to the limited space available, the collection is presented in changing
long-term exhibitions with different themes:
Félix González-Torres,
Rudolf Stingel, 1994
"Under the open sky", 2000
"From Waldmüller
to Schiele", Schloss Eggenberg, 2002/2003
“Nature in the picture”,
Stainz Castle, 2003
"Support - The New Gallery as a Collection", 2003
“The World of Quiet Things”, Herberstein Castle, 2004
"Ars Pingendi",
2005
“Fluxus Happening Concept Art”, 2005/2006
"On the nature of
man. Genre Pictures from the Old and the New Gallery”, 2006/2007
"William Thöny. In the wake of modernity”, 2013
“Nature is inside.
The Painter Wolfgang Hollegha“, 2015/2016 (curated by Günther
Holler-Schuster)
"Maria Lassnig (1919-2014). The donation to the Neue
Galerie Graz”, 2016