Kunsthistorisches Museum Tour: A Guided Crash Course

Get acquainted with the vast collection of Vienna's museum of art
From US$512 privately
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Tour Details
Duration
2.5 hours
Product Type
Tour
Venues
  • Kunsthistorisches Museum
  • Works by Brueghel & others
Photos & Highlights
  • Highlights of Kunsthistorisches Museum
  • Led by local art historian or scholar
Select a date
Tour Description
The immense Kunsthistorisches Museum stands alongside the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the British Museum as one of the great art collections in the world. In this Kunsthistorisches Museum tour, we'll join a local art historian to explore historical objects and artworks from the past seven millennia, from ancient Egypt to 20th-century Vienna Secession. 

Kunsthistorisches Museum Tour with an Expert

Our visit is designed as an overview or "crash course,” with time spent in several of the major collections. One particular focus will be the picture gallery, featuring 16th and 17th-century paintings from Venice, the Netherlands, and Germany, including masters such as Titian, Vermeer, van Eyck, and Dürer. Inspired by the masterpieces hanging before us, we’ll discuss the visible differences between northern and southern European painting styles. We’ll also look at how and why the ruling Habsburgs collected certain works and will cast our imaginations outwards to reflect on the collection’s greater symbolism for imperial Austria. (Note, we discuss this topic further on our Schönbrunn Palace Tour.)

Navigating the Galleries

As an introduction to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, this walk and its route will be organically shaped by your preferences. From day to day, tour to tour, the specific course will shift according to the desires of the group and the scholarly interests of your guide—be it Greek and Roman antiquities, coins, decorative arts or large-scale paintings. Regardless of where our feet take us, we'll emerge with a deeper familiarity of the museum's rich collection and its symbolism during the centuries-long rule of the Habsburgs.


For a more focused look at the early 20th century try our Vienna Architecture Tour

FAQ

Are museum tickets included?
Museum tickets will be automatically added to your cart during checkout. Please note: tickets are for standard admission only and do not include any special temporary exhibitions.
Experts
Orsolya Orsolya
Musician
Alexa Alexa
Art Historian
Irene Irene
Art Historian
Alexander Alexander
Art Historian / Artist
Reinhard Reinhard
Cultural Historian
Jan Jan
Architect
Katharina Katharina
Art Historian
Marlene Marlene
Storyteller
Robert Robert
Historian
Piroska Piroska
Architect
Elisabeth Elisabeth
Art Historian
Regine Regine
Historian / Art Historian
Gabriela Gabriela
Architectural Historian
Where You'll Start
(4.7) 61 Reviews

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The walk was excellent, 5 out of 5. (The rating widget above doesn't seem to be working) Very much enjoyed to museum and learned a great deal about an artistic period I didn't know much about. The docent we'd rate at 3 out of 5. She was professional and knowledgeable, but all four of our party felt she was a bit disengaged - almost as if she was punching the clock. May have just been an off day for her. However, I must say this: The couple traveling with us (with decades of international travel experience without being aware of Context Travel) were very impressed with our Schonbrunn tour docent, but after our Kunsthistorisches tour the first thing they asked was if we got to rate the guide because they weren't impressed
Katharina was superb in every way. She was effervescent, knowledgeable, adaptable, interesting, and a master and connecting small observations from one piece to the next 100 yrs apart. Like all of our context tours, she was truly excellent, educational, and fun. I adore the intensity achieveable on this tour. We feel totally enriched!
It was a wonderful tour! Regine is a spectacular guide: knowledgeable, friendly, helpful, and enthusiastic. We had a marvelous time and learned a lot.