30.09.2025 – 22.02.2026
Wautier is one of the greatest art-historical discoveries of recent decades. She follows in the footsteps of Rubens and van Dyck, and her paintings deserve to be counted among the most important works of the 17th century. Almost all of Wautier’s surviving works are now being shown in Vienna for the first time. At a time when female artists were mainly engaged in still life or genre painting, Michaelina Wautier confidently succeeded in the demanding field of history painting. For a long time, people refused to believe that her impressive The Triumph of Bacchus was painted by a woman. Her works testify to extraordinary originality, subtle humour and remarkable courage. In the exhibition curated by Gerlinde Gruber, Wautier’s extraordinary artistry and the artistic quality of her paintings can be experienced on a par with contemporaries such as Peter Paul Rubens and Anthonis van Dyck. The show invites visitors to get to know Michaelina Wautier as a new discovery and master of the senses and to witness her art-historical exploration.
Michaelina Wautier, painter
30.09.2025 – 22.02.2026
Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien
Maria-Theresien-Platz
1010 Vienna
www.khm.at
