Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller

press release: Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller is one of the premier Austrian artists of the Biedermeier era. He worked in a range of genres, producing beautifully refined portraits, landscapes, still lifes and genre scenes, each displaying not only his academic training, but also his early study of old master paintings. While at first glance his work appears highly traditional in nature, closer scrutiny reveals a dynamism, and a surprising interest in the modern that makes him a particularly fascinating figure.  

Waldmüller’s portraits are strongly evocative of the work of the great French painter, Ingres. Indeed, much of his living was made through his portraits of wealthy Austrian aristocrats, sitters he painted with a frank and introspective realism. His genre paintings are perhaps the works he is best known for, demonstrating the charming tone and aesthetic so beloved by his Austrian contemporaries. However, it is in his landscapes, where he betrays a modernism on par with, and even ahead of the French realist, Courbet. He painted his lush, plein-air landscapes of the Salzkammergut region near Vienna during the 1830’s, some 20 years before Courbet was to paint some of his most avant garde canvases. His deft handling, brilliant and highly varied characterization, as well as his inherent modernism not only demonstrate his importance in the grand sweep of 19th century European art but also make him a subject worthy of deeper scrutiny. 

This exhibition is the first survey of the work of Waldmüller to appear in America. It draws on the rich and unparalleled Viennese collections of the Belvedere, the Vienna Museum and the Leichtenstein Collection to assemble a group of approximately 70 masterworks by this dynamic and understudied artist. The exhibition will be accompanied by a scholarly catalogue, and is organized by the Milwaukee Art Museum in partnership with the Belvedere Museum.