Throw off the mantle of modern life and retreat into bucolic scenes of woodland, lakes, mountains, and more from 19th-century Europe. All thanks to Lower Belvedere’s Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller exhibition.
- Enjoy Waldmüller’s gorgeous landscapes
- Also features Constable, Corot & others
- Lovely atmosphere of peace & elegance
- 65 works (incl. 38 loans)
- Runs Feb 27 – Jun 14, 2026
- Book Lower Belvedere tickets*
- See also:
True to Nature
(Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Large Prater Landscape, 1849; Belvedere, Vienna, photo: Johannes Stoll)
A peek out of my window offers a view across to the Vienna hills and even a vineyard. However, the colours of concrete and steel precede the greens and ochres of leaves, bark, and soil.
We’d need to turn back the clock a couple of hundred years to see such views in entirely unspoiled form. Or we can simply drop into the Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller exhibition at Lower Belvedere.
Every country has its selection of iconic artists, and Waldmüller (1793-1865) must surely be one of Austria’s.
During the Biedermeier era, Waldmüller painted numerous landscapes, portraits and scenes of (rural) life with a remarkable quality to them: a mastery that had him feted for his talent with a brush by generations afterwards.
Those landscapes form the heart of Lower Belvedere’s exhibition, organised in cooperation with London’s National Gallery.
(Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Lake Nemi, 1843; Belvedere, Vienna, photo: Johannes Stoll)
Waldmüller’s early rural scenery served as backgrounds to portraits. His decision to then paint landscapes in their own right (a progression we see in the exhibition) reflected in part the wistful needs of a world drifting mercilessly into industrialisation.
Landscapes also met the wishes of a bourgeoisie seeking to (re)connect with nature through art. And Waldmüller’s motifs and style mirrored a growing clamour among artists to be more true to life, making him an early realist.
The canvasses on display take us to the aforementioned Vienna woods, but also to alpine lakes, mountain vistas, and Sicily, for example.
Of course, “true to life” depends on your perspective, and some suggest Waldmüller’s paintings often err on the side of the idyllic. A closer examination of his ouevre, though, reveals select works that deal in harsh realities. See, for example, 1854’s Exhausted Strength.
Nevertheless, simply immersing yourself in the quality of Waldmüller’s depictions feels like a welcome antidote to the relentless barrage of distraction that is the modern world.
(John Constable, Salisbury Cathedral and Leadenhall from the River Avon, 1820; press photo © The National Gallery, London)
If you can, go when Lower Belvedere opens (10am), and walk quickly through to the orangery gallery before other visitors arrive. The golden frames, exhibition architecture, and natural motifs exude a calm and elegance that seem to wash away the stress of 21st-century life.
Maybe I’m naive, but Waldmüller’s prowess with trees seems almost magical. Perhaps he sold his soul to the forest spirits in return.
Take the innocent 1831 Old Elms in the Prater painting: a window you feel you could step through to exchange pleasantries with the gentleman resting by the tree. Perhaps with a glass of wine and a slice of plum pie baked that same day.
Waldmüller’s virtuosity extends notably to light, too. I found myself wanting to shade my eyes from the sun and heat of Italy in such paintings as 1844’s The Ruins of the Greek Theatre at Taormina.
Landscapes by contemporaries of Waldmüller allow us to place his work in a wider artistic context, too, with paintings by such names as John Constable, Théodore Rousseau, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, and Joseph Rebell (another with a genius for painting light).
So take a break…and breathe in the country air.
Dates, tickets & tips
Drift through glorious landscapes of the past from February 27th to June 14th, 2026. An entrance ticket from or for Lower Belvedere includes the special exhibitions within.
(Booking service provided by Tiqets.com*, who I am an affiliate of)
Vienna blesses us with two further exhibitions featuring 19th-century art for much of the same time as the Waldmüller exhibition:
- Political caricaturist Honoré Daumier over at the Albertina (until May 25th, 2026)
- Painter Gustave Courbet at the Leopold Museum (until June 21st, 2026), which also includes landscapes…albeit with a far earthier rawness to them than with Waldmüller
You also find paintings by Waldmüller in the permanent exhibition of the Wien Museum on Karlsplatz, though I can’t recall exactly how many and what motifs feature. The exhibition is a chronology of Vienna, but displays a lot of top art that includes works by Klimt and Schiele. And entry is free.
How to get there
I have a page of directions for Belvedere, but simply jump on the 71 tram that travels around much of the Ring boulevard (including a stop opposite the opera house, for example) and get off at Lower Belvedere.
Address: Rennweg 6, 1030 Vienna