A trio to warm the heart. Lower Belvedere presents highlights from the Museum Langmatt collection of works by the French impressionists.
- Rare chance to see this prestigious private collection
- Filled with famous names
- Runs Sept 25, 2025 – Feb 8, 2026
- Book Lower Belvedere tickets*
- See also:
Villa to Museum to Vienna
(Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Braid, c. 1886/1887; Museum Langmatt, Stiftung Langmatt Sidney and Jenny Brown, Baden, Switzerland; press photo courtesy of the museum)
Wander into the small town of Baden in the Swiss canton of Aargau, and you find, for example, the ruins of Castle Stein: built over a thousand years ago.
You also find a Jugendstil villa constructed around 1900 for the industrialist Sidney Brown and his wife Jenny Brown-Sulzer.
While most of us content ourselves with kindergarten pictures by the kids and a generic framed poster from IKEA, the Browns had higher aspirations.
Beginning in the very late 19th century, the pair accumulated a collection of what was then largely contemporary art. And they did so with a gift for artistic foresight, spotting talent, and taking the right advice.
(Claude Monet, Ice Floes at Twilight, 1893; Museum Langmatt, Stiftung Langmatt Sidney and Jenny Brown, Baden, Switzerland; press photo courtesy of the museum)
Most importantly, the couple began to focus on the French impressionists.
Imagine the scene: the Brown’s take a trip to Paris soon after the start of the new century and return home with a work by Gauguin, one by Monet and several by a certain Paul Cézanne.
It certainly beats a plastic Eiffel tower and a postcard of the Jardin des Tuileries.
The couple’s subsequent acquisition efforts would result in a remarkably comprehensive and representative collection of French impressionist art.
This included significant groups of works by, for example, Renoir and Corot alongside such names as Degas, Pissaro, and Sisley in addition to those already given.
(Paul Cézanne, Trees and Rocks in the Park of the Château Noir, c. 1904; Museum Langmatt, Stiftung Langmatt Sidney and Jenny Brown, Baden, Switzerland; press photo courtesy of the museum)
You can view that collection (which expanded to include other media and eras, such as antique porcelain) in the former family villa.
Except you can’t.
What is now Museum Langmatt is temporarily closed for renovation work. This is, however, good news for visitors to Vienna, as Lower Belvedere is therefore able to show highlights from the collection in their Cézanne, Monet, Renoir exhibition.
We’ll have to wait for the opening to see exactly what notable joys we can experience, though. I’ll add details as they become available.
Dates, tickets & tips
Delve into the artistic flair of Museum Langmatt’s collection between September 25th, 2025 and February 8th, 2026. An entrance ticket from or for Lower Belvedere includes the exhibition.
(Booking service provided by Tiqets.com*, who I am an affiliate of)
As if that wasn’t highlight enough for autumn and winter at Belvedere, the same location also has an exhibition around Franz Messerschmidt’s fascinating baroque character heads: a real treat if you’re not familiar with them.
And wider Vienna has more French impressionism to offer, as revealed in the title of the Albertina’s permanent exhibition: Monet to Picasso. The displays include impressionist and post-impressionist works by some of the names mentioned above.
How to get there
I have a whole directions page for the Belvedere complex. But the lower palace is best reached on the 71 tram that skirts the north, west, and southwest of Vienna’s old town. Or simply walk down from the centre.
Address: Rennweg 6, 1030 Vienna