Not the midfield trio for a remarkably creative football team, but the mainstays of an intriguing exhibition. Arcimboldo – Bassano – Bruegel at the Kunsthistorisches Museum looks at nature, time and seasonality in the context of renaissance art.
- Numerous masterpieces from art history
- Also features names like Dürer & da Vinci
- Over 140 works
- Runs Mar 11 – Jun 29, 2025
- See also:
Nature’s Time
(Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1526–1593), Summer, dated 1563, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Picture Gallery © KHM-Museumsverband)
The passing of time and the dance of nature with the seasons would have been felt closely by medieval folk, whose livelihood and well being depended on it. After all, no lorries could bring in deliveries to make up a potato shortage. (In fact, Europe had no potatoes at all until the late 1500s.)
For many centuries, knowledge was largely local, and various stories and beliefs would have filled the gap left empty by scientific ignorance (plus ça change).
But then came the Renaissance and, with it, exploration and a renewal of scientific curiosity: a need to measure, record and understand nature, seasonality, the passing time, and humanity’s place within a growing world.
All of this intrinsically linked up with art, of course, given the latter’s potential to capture nature and moments in time in an aesthetic and documentary sense: art for art’s sake, art as a demonstration of the artist’s skill, and also art as a carrier of information.
As such, the great renaissance artists used nature, seasonality and time as useful motifs. Which brings us to the Arcimboldo – Bassano – Bruegel exhibition at the Kunsthistorisches Museum.
(Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525/30–1569), The Return of the Herd (Autumn), dated 1565, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Picture Gallery © KHM-Museumsverband)
The exhibition, subtitled Nature’s Time, looks at such art but also its context: the connection between the portrayed and the prevailing sociocultural and intellectual environment.
Which is why, for example, you also find scientific devices, globes, manuscripts, and similar among the painted, sculpted or woven masterpieces. Whereby those devices, globes and manuscripts often count as works of art in their own right.
As the main exhibition title suggests, those masterpieces stem from some of history’s great names. So you see, for example:
- The seasons, as painted by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1525/30-1569) in landscapes with a harsh realism to them. Including Hunters in the Snow (Winter)…one of my all-time favourites
- The months captured individually in single paintings as landscapes or cityscapes along with seasonal weather, nature, activities and attire by Leandro Bassano (1557–1622). Far more gentle and pastoral than Bruegel’s equivalents
- The clever romanticised portraits for the seasons and elements painted using a collage of relevant produce, symbols, animals, and/or items by Arcimboldo (1526-1593)
(Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), Dead European Roller, c.1500 (?) © Vienna, Albertina)
The exhibition also features artists beyond the titular trio, like Leonardo da Vinci and Albrecht Dürer. For example, see one of Dürer’s detailed watercolour sketches of animals (a roller bird).
The works on display come from the Kunsthistorisches Museum’s own collection, other Viennese institutions like the Albertina, and museums outside Austria.
Dates, tickets & tips
Enjoy the masterful works of art from March 11th to June 29th, 2025. As well as a standard museum entrance ticket*, you need an extra exhibition ticket and time slot direct from the Kunsthistorisches Museum.
The museum charges a small fee for the time slot ticket (though it’s free if you have an annual pass), and they may have a few (more expensive) flexible tickets available that allow you to go in once at any time without having to book a specific entrance time.
Do you need to book the time slot ticket in advance? I suspect it will make life more convenient to do so, especially if you’re visiting across the Easter period or in May and June when visitor numbers increase.
Numerous artists from the Renaissance populate the permanent galleries in the museum, so be sure to view those, too.
The Arcimboldo – Bassano – Bruegel exhibition counts as a highlight in the Vienna art spring/summer. I also particularly recommend:
- Leonardo – Dürer at the Albertina (more renaissance magnificence in the form of drawings on colored paper)
- Klimt: Pigment & Pixel (insights into how Klimt built up his paintings, as well as remarkably plausible reconstructions of the lost Faculty Paintings)
How to get there
Just follow the travel tips in the main Kunsthistorisches Museum article to reach this central museum.
Address: Maria-Theresien-Platz, 1010 Vienna