The ALBERTINA Museum Vienna is opening an extraordinary exhibition in fall 2025: “Gothic Modern. Munch, Beckmann, Kollwitz”. From September 19, 2025 to January 11, 2026, around 200 works will be on display, highlighting the dialog between medieval Gothic and modern art. The focus is on the question of how artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries drew inspiration from the expressive visual language of the Middle Ages and developed new forms of expression from it.
Modernism is still regarded today as an era of radical break with tradition. However, as the Gothic Modern exhibition impressively shows, this break was by no means absolute. Instead of just looking to the future, many artists consciously turned to the past – more specifically to the Gothic. They discovered forms of expression that were closer to them than the academic doctrines of their time.
Themes such as love, death, faith and doubt were already central to medieval depictions and found a new relevance in modern art. Thus, the Gothic period did not serve as a nostalgic retreat, as was the case in Romanticism or Historicism. Rather, it was used as a living source to make authentic emotions and existential crises visible.
In Gothic altars, sculptures and woodcuts, artists such as Edvard Munch, Käthe Kollwitz and Max Beckmann found a model for undisguised expressiveness. This “raw” and at the same time highly emotional visual language inspired them to create new forms of artistic expression. Religious imagery in particular, depicting suffering, love and hope, became important points of reference.
In addition to the themes, the techniques were also impressive. Woodcuts, book art, stained glass and tapestries were consciously rediscovered and reinterpreted in the modern era. In doing so, the artists took up processes that were centuries old and transferred them into contemporary contexts.
The exhibition places a special focus on Vienna around 1900, where international art movements met a lively local scene. Edvard Munch, Käthe Kollwitz and Akseli Gallen-Kallela exhibited at the Vienna Secession, while artists such as Max Beckmann and Helen Schjerfbeck experienced the city as a place of inspiration. This transnational network was decisive for the spread of Gothic-inspired modernism. Vienna thus became a hub where old forms of expression and new aesthetic ideas merged.
In the ALBERTINA Museum, works by Van Gogh, Klimt, Schiele and Modersohn-Becker will enter into direct dialog with art by the Old Masters such as Holbein, Dürer and Cranach from autumn 2025. This juxtaposition makes it clear that modernism did not simply represent a turning away from the past, but rather a conscious return to the powerful visual language of the late Middle Ages.
The exhibition shows how modernism redefined itself through its reference to the Gothic. Instead of exclusively emphasizing innovation, the connections to historical traditions are made visible. It is precisely this interaction that makes Gothic Modern so appealing.
The show is curated by Ralph Gleis, supported by co-curator Julia Zaunbauer and assistant curators Lydia Eder and Nina Eisterer. The project was developed in close cooperation with the Finnish National Gallery / Ateneum Art Museum in Helsinki and the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo. It was based on an international research project that was initiated in 2018 under the direction of Prof. Juliet Simpson (Coventry University). The aim was to systematically investigate the influence of Gothic on modernism and make it visible in exhibitions.
The central concern of Gothic Modern is to emphasize the emotional power of the Gothic as a source of inspiration for modernism. For artists who wanted to break away from academic rules, medieval art offered a projection surface for their own feelings and visions. The result was an art that focused on existential questions about life, death, love and despair. These universal themes link Gothic art with modern art and make the exhibition particularly topical and accessible.
Exhibition title: Gothic Modern. Munch, Beckmann, Kollwitz
Location: ALBERTINA Vienna
Period: September 19, 2025 – January 11, 2026
Opening hours: daily: 10 am to 6 pm, Wednesday and Friday extended opening hours until 9 pm
Publication: A comprehensive catalog with 292 pages, numerous illustrations and contributions by Ralph Gleis, Stephan Kemperdick, Marja Lahelma, Juliet Simpson, Vibeke Waallann Hansen and Julia Zaunbauer will be published by Hirmer Verlag to accompany the exhibition.
