Pieter Claesz exhibition

Dive into the genre of still life and the genius of baroque painter Pieter Claesz at the Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM).

• Features 3 original paintings
• Plus hi-res digital versions
• …and insightful videos
• Runs Jun 17, 2025 – Mar 15, 2026
• Book your KHM tickets*
• See also:
  • Kunsthistorisches Museum overview
  • Art exhibitions

Still Lifes

(I await press images for the works in the exhibition, but this painting at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum gives you a flavour of the artist’s work; Pieter Claesz, Still Life with a Turkey Pie, 1627; image courtesy of the Rijksmuseum)

One of the lovelier kinds of art exhibition is where you get intriguing insight into the works or artist. Perhaps the techniques applied in a portrait, the meaning behind a motif, or the creative and historical context for a painting.

So it is with the small Pieter Claesz exhibition at the Kunsthistorisches Museum: a chance to engage with three of his paintings and the genre of still life in greater depth than usual.

Claesz (1597/98 – 1660) was a master of the still life, known for the diversity of his tabletop subjects, his attention to compositional details, his deft use of light, and his adept portrayal of materials.

As a result, the artist’s works appear in the collections of such renowned institutions as the Rijksmuseum, the Louvre, the Museo del Prado, or the Met. And, of course, in the Kunsthistorisches Museum’s own archives.

The Still Lifes exhibition showcases the museum’s 1656 Vanitas alongside two further still lifes from Kunst Museum Winterthur and the Alte Galerie of the Universalmuseums Joanneum Graz.

(I await press images for the works in the exhibition, but this painting at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum gives you a flavour of the artist’s work; Pieter Claesz, Still Life with a Fish, 1647; image courtesy of the Rijksmuseum)

All three illustrate the skills that earned Claesz his reputation.

While we can admire the paintings as originally intended, high-resolution digital versions allow a far closer look and better access to the secrets of baroque symbolism and Claesz’s craft.

Short videos also add further information on the artist himself and on still life as a genre within the cultural context of the times.

The exhibition benefits from a collaboration with the Kaiserschild Stiftung and its Art Defined project. This project creates high-quality digital images of paintings for use as a tool in art outreach and education, thus making these paintings more accessible.

Dates, tickets & tips

Discover the secrets and symbolism of Claesz’s still lifes from June 17th, 2025 to March 15th, 2026. An entrance ticket from or for the Kunsthistorisches Museum includes the exhibition.

Painters like Snyders, van Dyck, and Rubens from the same era and part of Europe as Claesz form part of the museum’s permanent picture galleries, of course.

The museum also has a special exhibition for another contemporary of Claesz for some of the same time as Still Lifes: discover the astonishing talent of painter Michaelina Wautier (Sept 30, 2025 – Feb 22, 2026).

How to get to the paintings

Find travel tips on the main Kunsthistorisches Museum overview page. But the museum lies centrally on the famous Ring boulevard and close to the Burgring tram stop (lines 1, D, 2 and 71) and the MuseumsQuartier (U2) and Volkstheater (U2 and U3) subway stations.

Address: Burgring 7, 1010 Vienna