Subtitled A History of the European Art Market, the exhibition at Gartenpalais Liechtenstein offers much more than just an intriguing journey through the business of art.
- The evolution of the market in ten chapters
- Rather lovely art on display, too
- …in gorgeous baroque rooms
- And all with free entry
- Runs Jan 30 – April 6, 2026
- Book a 2-hr walking tour* of Vienna
- See also:
The art market through time
(Look like works by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. But they aren’t. Bandwagons aren’t a 21st-century invention. Press photo © LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections Vaduz-Vienna)
Dealing in Splendour is the 2026 edition of the annual exhibition at Gartenpalais Liechtenstein, which was built by Prince Johann Adam Andreas I von Liechtenstein in the early 18th century. The building still looks as pristine as the day they cut the ribbon on the front gates.
You know you’re somewhere special when the room for the press conference is a grand, columned, fresco-filled, baroque hall with marble flooring. And the first speaker is H.S.H. Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein.
Not quite the same vibe as my home office, sadly.
Anyway, the exhibition traces the evolution of the art market in Europe from antiquity to the early 1900s. It does this in a series of chapters, each highlighting a key development using a representative time and place.
So, for example, the appearance of art fairs is illustrated by the phenomenon of Panden exhibition rooms in Antwerp of the late 15th century.
Suitable works of art and historical documents accompany us on the journey, and the result is rather impressive.
(Just a Rembrandt self-portrait in a magnificent baroque library. Press photo © LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections Vaduz-Vienna)
First, the fundamental premise of the exhibition proves quite enlightening. We learn how the business of art had a significant impact on the history of art: talent and creativity marshalled and directed by market forces and business acumen.
As such, the exhibition forces us to partially abandon our idealistic concept of the artist ploughing a personal field built from divine inspiration and some indefinable internal drive.
Instead, we have art as a compromise between what you want to produce and what sells. Rembrandt, for example, found inspiration from auction sales.
Second, we have the art that illustrates each chapter…drawn from loans or the host’s Princely Collections. A treat in its own right.
So you see original 1st and 2nd-century Roman busts, the astonishing early-1700s gemstone-decorated Badminton Cabinet from Florence’s Galleria dei Lavori, and a golden house altar panel from the early 1400s.
A woodcut by Albrecht Dürer, portraits by Titian and Rubens, a self-portrait by Rembrandt, a veduta by Piranesi, Klimt’s Nuda Veritas, three paintings of the parliament in London by Monet…you get the picture.
(Three Monets and a self portrait by Richard Gerstl. Press photo © LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections Vaduz-Vienna)
Third, all this takes place in the rather lovely surrounds of the Gartenpalais. With the exhibition spanning two floors, you get to see rooms not open to general public view.
The baroque majesty leaves you quite awestruck, particularly if, like me, you’re an author. Some of the exhibited paintings hang in the library: a treasure house of leather-bound tomes with titles like Vitas Patrum. Nürnberg 1483 or Guerre de Jules Cesar (in three volumes, it should be noted).
As such, Dealing in Splendour offers a triumvirate of artistic, historical and architectural joy. And all with free entry.
Dates, tickets & tips
Travel through the history of the art market daily from January 30th to April 6th, 2026 (10am to 6pm). Rather kindly, as noted above, the exhibition is free to view.
You can, however, pay to have a guide take you around. The palais offers English-language tours at 2pm on Mondays and Saturdays, which I strongly recommend you book in advance through the website.
How to get there
The palais lies just outside the old town. If coming from the centre, your best bet is to jump on the D tram at somewhere like Schottentor or Burgring and get off at at Bauernfeldplatz or Seegasse.
Address: Fürstengasse 1, 1090 Vienna