Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna
Sunday, May 25th, 2008Today I went to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
I was attracted to a special exhibit of Archimboldo, who lived in the 1500’s. He made these super-modern paintings.
The painting above is a man made of vegetables, called “Sommer” (”Summer”).
Archimboldo’s paintings of food…
are actually reversible. You can view them upside-down…
and they are faces of people! I loved watching kids look at the still life paintings, then look down at the mirror below and see the reversed images turn into faces.
In another set of paintings, “different professions were represented by characteristic objects, a cook by kitchen utensils, a cellarer by barrels, a farmer by agricultural tools and so on,” writes the curator. This is the court historian who wrote 50 books:
I’m wonderfully overwhelmed by the architecture of the museum building itself. Although these pictures don’t really show it in all its magnificence, the entrance lobby has this dome with a circle cut out at the top.
When you walk up the stairs to see what’s in the heavens,
there is a dining hall. Although I’m not usually a big fan of brunch, because of the glorious architecture and the food, it’s a new goal of mine to have brunch in the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Unfortunately, reservations are required at least three months ahead. Next time in Vienna….
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