Museum halls are full of images of women: naked or richly clothed, in unnatural poses or in ones that seem more real than life. It’s often hard to understand who these mostly-attractive dames are — muses, wives, courtesans, criminals, or heroines. Cultural and historical studies often give surprising answers to this question. In this tour your guide will talk about the biographies of the heroines of the canvases and also try to look at the social and cultural messages that these great works of art convey.
You will find out how the nakedness of Goddess Diana is connected to little girls’ love for ponies and how Venetian courtesans paved the way for gender equality. You will discuss how Greek myths and the Holy Scriptures imposed moral norms through pictorial female images and how low Angela Merkel’s décolleté is allowed to be.
Within the scope of this tour, you will see the masterpieces by such renowned artists of the Renaissance and Baroque as Titian, Veronese, Giovanni Bellini and Velasquez as well as by Sofonisba Anguissola, Guido Cagnacci and Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun that are less known to the public but can undoubtedly be considered the hidden treasure of the Art History Museum in Vienna.
This tour is not about making you an art historian or listing artists’ workshop connections. This is a narrative participatory experience offering you a new perspective on art and making museum pieces meaningful to you.
Private tour
