Sammlung Essl - Kunsthaus

Profile

"Ever since we started collecting works of art it was our concern to facilitate access to art as a source of inspiration for as many people as possible. Art enriches life and releases innovative forces. It is a vital ingredient of life and broadens our insights into the workings of life and human existence. In this spirit we would like to see it as a contribution to a positive development of our society."
Agnes and Karlheinz Essl

The art collection of Agnes and Karlheinz Essl reflects the art collectors' personal vision of contemporary art. Austrian painting after 1945 represented the central core of the collection in the first decades. As of the early 1990s, the collection started to adopt an increasingly international orientation. Art tendencies represented in the collection range from Informel to Vienna Actionism and from the realist tendencies of the 1970s to the "new painting" of the 1980s and the pluralism of styles and media that marks the present. Now boasting seminal contemporary artists from Europe, the USA, Australia, Mexico and China, the collection is characterised by going for depth rather than range by acquiring complete groups of works and by its steady growth through continuous acquisition. With its current holdings of more than 6.000 works of art, it covers all contemporary art media from the second half of the 20th century to the beginnings of the 21st century.

It is a declared aim of Sammlung Essl (The Essl Collection) to make its holdings accessible, in both senses of the word, to a large audience. Designed by architect Heinz Tesar, the collection's museum building was inaugurated in 1999. Harbouring a great range of activities, including both exhibitions and New Music events, it represents the heart of Sammlung Essl. Financed exclusively through private funds, the Essl Museum has consolidated its position in the Austrian art world as a modern art institution. Its spirit of independence and flexibility allows for rapid responses to topical and emerging art tendencies and issues.
The exhibition programme is informed by the mission and objectives of Sammlung Essl. The cornerstones of the programme are thematic and monographic presentations of art, external curators' viewpoints on the collection, and art from different cultural backgrounds.
The Essl Collection's exhibitions are organised both at the Essl Museum and at the Schömer-Haus, the bauMax company headquarters, in Klosterneuburg near Vienna. Both premises are designed to help visitors understand works of art through an ideal interaction of art, light, space and movement.

The particular concern to support young artists who are not yet established on the art market is served by two series of exhibitions that alternate annually: >emerging artists< with ever new curatorial focuses; and the presentation of the award winners of the Essl Award for Central and South-Eastern Europe. The above illustrates that the Essl Museum is not only a place for presenting established art, but is also intended to serve as an experimental creative lab for cutting-edge contemporary art. Visitors are invited to take an active part in present-day endeavours of the mind.

Art education activities for adults, schools and children promote a mature and open exploration of art. The methodological focus lies on art dialogues in front of original artworks linked with hands-down painting experiences gathered in the studio.

As an integral part of its activities, Sammlung Essl supports and promotes electronic contemporary music through concerts, performances and sound installations on its premises and has thus established an internationally renowned forum for New Music in a museum context unrivalled in Austria.