VIENNA: ART SCENE

We took a brief morning bus tour of Vienna to reach the city from where the ship was docked, but decided to skip the scheduled tours as we had had our fill of detailed histories. Instead, we wanted to visit a couple of museums. Vienna boasts over 140 museums, and we chose to visit the Belvedere Museum, which houses many of Gustav Klimt’s paintings, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, known for its old masters and various artifacts.

Both museums were impressive. The Belvedere Museum, once an old palace, allowed us to view great art while imagining the grandeur of the palace itself. The Klimt paintings were extraordinary, especially "The Kiss," which is sensuous and erotic without being pornographic.

The collection beyond Klimt was equally remarkable, featuring works by van Gogh, David, von Jawlensky, Schiele, and many other artists who are rarely seen in museums in the US.

The Kunsthistorisches Museum, built as a museum in the late 1800s, could easily be mistaken for a palace with its stunning marble, frescoes, and carvings adorning the walls and ceilings. Among the well-represented old masters including Reynolds, Velazquez, Veronese, Tintoretto, Tizian, Rafael, Bruegel, Rembrandt and Rubens, there was a room filled with Caravaggio’s works, which were breathtaking.