A guided tour of the major special exhibition in fall, Idols & Rivals. Artists in competition, with art mediator Daniel Uchtmann.

Competition, challenge, has been instrumental in the work of painters and sculptors. Artists fought competitive battles with each other, but also with long-dead celebrities. From them emerged some of the most famous works of the Renaissance and Baroque periods to this day. However, competition was already common practice in ancient Greece. Artists were under enormous competitive pressure. Imitation and the desire to outdo the competition brought about cultural progress. In the artist envy also abysses opened up with intrigues, blows or poisonings. On the other hand, there were projects that emerged from artists’ cooperation. Numerous artistic confrontations are again juxtaposed. Many of the selected paintings and sculptures from antiquity to the period around 1800 are on view in Austria for the first time – including numerous works that were intended to be compared with each other from the very beginning in the spirit of artistic competition.

Meeting point: Vestibule
Please sign up: kunstvermittlung@khm.at (Subject: Vienna Art Week).
Max. number of participants: 25.