Join us for a visit to the newest art museum in Vienna and probably the whole world, the legacy of an ultra rich art collector who left her fortune to the arts through her private museum in Vienna.
“You will be amazed!” was the headline on the WOW exhibition that Heidi Horten Collection organised in The Leopold Museum in Vienna to show her impressive private collection a couple of years ago. It was called the “Who’s Who” in the art history in Europe in the 20th century, a collection that includes over 500 works by all the names from international expressionism and modernism to pop art and today’s light art and other directions that you can just imagine.
With that success Ms Horten decided to open her private museum to sport her nearly billion dollar art collection. For her museum, she acquired the former office of Archduke Friedrich just opposite of the Albertina in the heart of Vienna, a site which had already seen a good bit of world history starting from a Roman cemetery all the way to city fortifications during the Ottoman sieges and further to the use of the Habsburgs, only to end up, fully renovated as the home of a nearly billion dollar art collection that Ms Horten had collected with her husband since the 1990’s. The museum opened on 1 June 2022 and Ms Horten just managed to see before her passing away only twelve days later!
When you enter the museum, you will see a huge aula with some impressive sculptures, a lot of light and air. What is left of the imperial offices are the outer walls. Inside, everything has been revamped to provide walls and room for the collection. Interesting stair structures take you from one floor to the other or you can use the massive industrial lift. Each floor has four corned salons with different content, be it about the history of the building, a video room or the fancy Tea Room where Ms Horten wanted to create a miniature replica of the atmosphere in her own palaces to make the private museum a very personal space. A strange but interesting “Gesamtkunstwerk” but sit down there for a moment to think about the mecenate!
For now, you can only enter the museum within a certain time slot. This is why it is better to buy the ticket online and arrive within the 30 minutes slot that you have booked as it makes the visit much more pleasurable for everybody. There is a huge rush to the newest, fanciest and most extravaganza museum in Vienna!
There are accessible loos - including those for the disabled - in all tree floors with a different artistic approach between phenomenon and absurdity both inside the loos and in the corridors to the restrooms. The artist’s approach examines different materials and qualities and make your small private moment an art experience of your own!
Behind the reception desk, there are the fancy lockers for your bags and coat.
At the reception desk, there is a bar table that serves the purpose of a museum shop. You can find there at least some brilliant coffee table books about the collection together with some usual minor stuff.
There is no museum café but given that you are next to the Albertina (with a great restaurant) and one of the greatest operas in the world, the neighbourhood is full of great cafés and restaurants where you can process your museum experience.
Heidi Horten Collection
Hanuschgasse 3, 1010 Vienna
https://hortencollection.com/en/intro
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