Mumok
Mumok
LUDWIG FOUNDATION VIENNA
MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
The Viennese mumok is the largest of its kind in Europe, and knows how to skilfully stage its art from the 20th and 21st centuries. Pablo Picasso, Gerhard Richter, Yoko Ono and Andy Warhol are just some of the artists whose works can be found in the exhibition rooms.
My Rating:
The positives:
The mumok knows how to skilfully stage its art collection. It's huge and thrilling.
The negatives:
As is so often the case with large museums, it would be nice if one ticket gave you more than just one-time access.
Tip:
Bring headphones for your smartphone with you so that you can use the mumok app as an audio guide.
Last Modified: 05.02.2025 | Céline & Susi
Mumok
Tickets
The details
at a glance
Pass
Free admission to mumok.
The Vienna Pass is available for 1, 2, 3 or 6 days.
-> More about the Vienna Pass
Reduced admission to mumok.
The Vienna City Card is available for 1, 2 or 3 days.
-> More about the Vienna City Card
Mumok
Photo Gallery
What is there
to see?
At the MQ in Vienna you find a grey block – striking, large and as attractive as a magnet. What is a dark block on the outside, is a colourful dream for all art lovers on the inside: the mumok, the Museum of Modern Art.
Vienna’s mumok is the largest of its kind in Europe and knows how to showcase its art skilfully from the 20th and 21st centuries. Pablo Picasso, Gerhard Richter, Yoko Ono and Andy Warhol are just some artists whose works can be found in the exhibition rooms.
In total, there are around 10,000 works of art from the Pop Art, Photorealism, Fluxus, Nouveau Réalisme and Viennese Actionism categories, which can be viewed in various forms spread over 4,800 square metres. Drawings, sketches, paintings, sculptures, furniture, photos, videos and films are exhibited on seven levels. For some years now, there has even been a cinema at the bottom of the building, which generally invites visitors to Wednesday evening screenings.
When you enter the foyer, you feel like you are on the ground floor, but you are actually right in the centre of the building. You immediately sense the spatial and artistic size of the museum and the urge to see more. There is a shop and café on the left-hand side and the first exhibition room on the right, which is just as suitable for a visit as a grand finale.
The aim of the museum is to continuously combine reality-based art from the 1960s and 1970s with contemporary works, and thus give people and artists a place to exchange ideas. And age should not play a role here.
The mumok also has something for the youngest visitors: In addition to an audio guide for children, there are also regular workshops, a club and dedicated guided tours.
CLAES OLDENBURGS
MOUSE MUSEUM
I found the exhibition on the top floor of Claes Oldenburg particularly interesting, as it makes reference to the lockdown situation in a personalised way. While we were “locked up” within our four walls, we have time to organise, sort or collect things. We decide what we see on our shelves and what we want to dispose of. This is what Oldenburg did many years ago. The artist began collecting small objects, models, and toys in his flat in the 1960s. He called it his “museum of popular objects”.
The “Mouse Museum”, realised in Kassel in 1972 and acquired by the Ludwig couple in 1978, is now housed in the mumok. In a room shaped like a Mickey Mouse head with big ears and a tongue sticking out, there are illuminated display cases. The objects, which have been collected over the years, are lined up without hierarchy or order. It goes without saying that the Mickey Mouse was not chosen by chance. It is considered an allusion to a parallel world in which its laws and rules of behaviour apply.
mumok
a bit of history
Austria’s first museum of modern art was built in 1962. However, it was not located in the hip 7th district of Vienna as it is today, but outside the city centre, near today’s main railway station. It was called the 20er-Haus (Museum of the 20th Century). Today it is used as Belvedere 21.
Four years earlier, the exhibition building had been the Austrian pavilion for the EXPO in Brussels. In 1979, the museum was extended by a second exhibition building in the Palais Liechtenstein and only reopened in 2001 in the MQ (Museums Quartier) in a cubic, grey building. The two other locations were abandoned.
The mumok has borne the nickname “Ludwig Foundation” since 1991, thanks to the extensive donations made by the Ludwig couple to the Ludwig Foundation. The couple, together with Hertha Firnberg, had already given a large number of objects to the foundation ten years earlier, which were then transferred to the museum on permanent loan.
VIENNA
ACTIONISM
The term “Viennese Actionism” refers to an artistic movement from the 20th century whose energies can still be felt today.
Between 1962 and 1970, artists such as Günter Brus, Hermann Nitsch and Otto Muehl created a recognisable confrontation with psychological, inner reality with their works. They wanted to take a new direction and thus draw attention to the obvious, yet hidden, cruelty in society. And in a way that – unlike before – was very provocative. People were to be shocked in a certain way. To this end, the artist’s own body was often chosen as a form of expression or blood and misappropriated objects from everyday life were placed centre stage.
The WAM – Vienna Actionism Museum has also been open since March 2024. We have already walked past and will be visiting soon!
Official website de mumok (EN): www.mumok.at
Text and image rights: © Céline Mülich, 2020 – 2025
With the support of Susanne Vukan.
With the permission of mumok.
