Last week the Leopold Museum & Instagrammers Austria invited us to visit the fabulous Heidi Horten Collection, now shown in the fourth floor (and the lobby).
The exhibition “WOW! The Heidi Horten Collection” is the first public presentation of one of the most impressive European private collections. The presentation at the Leopold Museum fulfils the collector’s long-cherished wish to make the masterpieces meticulously collected by her since the 1990s by artists from Gustav Klimt to Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst accessible to a wide audience. (Leopold Museum)
Heidi Horten started her collection with her late husband Helmut Horten (1909-1987) who was known as the “Kaufhaus König” – even so, the foundation of his department store empire was based on the Aryanization of the “Warenhaus Gebrüder Alsberg” in 1939. After the death of her husband, Horten started to focus on art pieces she enjoyed and artists she loved like Chagall. With the help of the art expert and her friend Agnes Husslein Horten grew her collection to one of the most important European private collection.
In 1996 Horten managed to buy 30 pieces at an auction in London and the rumours of this mysterious collector went around the world.
The collection was developed primarily by being true to the collector’s personal taste, but was also informed by a purposeful focus on relationships between the various categories of works, therefore following a common thread. (Horten Collection)
This inaugural public presentation has its origins in the sense of cultural and political responsibility felt by Heidi Goëss-Horten. The Heidi Horten Collection aims to preserve outstanding works from art history for future generations and to make them available to the public at large. Its foremost goal is to encourage young people through educational programs. (Horten Collection)
It is a beautiful collection, spanning the last 100 years in art history – definitely worth one or more visits, even more as Heidi Horten wanted to open it to a broad public the entry is free every Thursday from 18:00 to 21:00 until the end of the show on July 29th.
WOW! The Heidi Horten Collection
Leopold Museum, Vienna
Until July 29th, 2018.
