Gottfried Helnwein

To celebrate the 75th birthday of Gottfried Helnwein, the ALBERTINA Museum is showing a large-scale exhibition of his output from the past two decades. The Vienna-born artist Gottfried Helnwein’s oeuvre is characterized by his interest in the themes of pain, injury, and violence. A central motif of his is the figure of the vulnerable and defenseless child as a proxy of sorts, one that embodies all psychological and societal anxieties.

His hyperrealistic paintings, always created with reference to a photographic model, are impressive for their technical perfection. To this day, Helnwein is viewed as a provocateur—having used his work to engage in social criticism from the very beginning: “My work has really always been an attempt to come to terms with or react to that which affects me.”

On view at the ALBERTINA museum from 25 October 2023 until 18 February 2024.