Exhibition in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna brings Beethoven into dialogue with Friedrich, Goya, Rodin, Rebecca Horn, John Baldessari and Tino Sehgal.

In the spring of 2020, the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, in cooperation with the Archive of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, will present an unusual homage to Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827).

His universal and unique reception, the epochal significance of his music, but also the perception of his deified persona, create numerous entry points; high and popular culture, commerce and politics all form an inexhaustible reservoir for inspiration and appropriation.

The exhibition brings together paintings by Caspar David Friedrich, sketchbooks by J.M.W. Turner, graphic works by Francisco de Goya, Anselm Kiefer and Jorinde Voigt, sculptures by Auguste Rodin, Rebecca Horn and a new work developed for the exhibition by Tino Sehgal, a video by Guido van der Werve and much more, all of which are brought into dialogue with the music and persona of Beethoven. The exhibition will thus build a bridge with the present: masterpieces of fine art form connections with music and silence.