As a companion to the exhibition Arnulf Rainer & Hermann Nitsch at the Arnulf Rainer Museum in Baden, the Nitsch Foundation in Vienna will present, from 10 November 2026, a compelling dialogue between two outstanding Austrian artists of the post-war avant-garde.

Entitled Nitsch & Arnulf Rainer – Radical Shifts in 20th-Century Art, the exhibition brings together two artistic positions that radically challenged the boundaries of the image, the body and the traditional concept of art. Overpainting and action, trace and body, destruction and transformation become forms of expression through which the creative process itself becomes the subject.

One connection between Rainer and Nitsch is the engagement with fear as an existential human experience. In Rainer’s work, fear becomes visible through gestural intensity, distortion and overpainting, turning the picture plane into a site of direct confrontation with inner states of tension. Nitsch extends this exploration into space and into the physical and sensory experience of the action. In his Orgien Mysterien Theater, action, ritual, colour and sound become means of bringing suppressed sensations to the surface and initiating processes of transformation and catharsis.

The exhibition demonstrates how differently Rainer and Nitsch responded to the radical shifts in art after 1945, while also revealing the close connections between their approaches through their shared interest in process, materiality, corporeality and existential experience. At the same time, the presentation offers a complementary perspective to the exhibition at the Arnulf Rainer Museum and invites visitors to follow the artistic dialogue between Rainer and Nitsch across both exhibition venues.

The exhibition will be opened by Dr. Nikolaus Kratzer, whose guest lecture will introduce the dialogue between the two artists.

Registration required: office@nitsch-foundation.com (click here to register)