The Russian avant garde is among the most exciting chapters in the history of 20th century art, and the Albertina’s new exhibition Chagall to Malevich. The Russian Avant Gardes explores the rich variety of this era. 140 masterpieces demonstrate the fundamentally different styles, compositional principles and aesthetic ideas that not only appear in works created by different artists at the same time, but in some cases within one and the same artist’s oeuvre.

Meanwhile The Promise of Total Automation at the Kunsthalle Wien in the MuseumsQuartier focuses on objects with a life of their own. This exhibition presents works by a series of artists who have studied the subject and developed their own responses to it over the past few years.

The Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien opened to the public on October 17, 1891 on the Ringstrasse and will celebrate its 125th anniversary this year with a large scale exhibition entitled Feste feiern. It takes a look at various aspects of celebration culture that established themselves in Europe from the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance to the 18th century, at court, in towns and in the country.

On April 7, 1766 Joseph II opened the imperial Prater hunting grounds to the general public. The Wien Museum Karlsplatz is focusing on the eventful history of this extensive green space in Vienna’s central second district in a special exhibition named 250 Years of the Prater. It owns a large number of Prater-related exhibits, part of which is on permanent display at the Prater Museum in the Planetarium.

With its exhibition Formkunst. Klimt – Kupka – Hoffmann – Hölzel – Filla – Čapek – Picasso – Braque, the Belvedere is aiming to raise awareness of the fertile breeding ground that a whole family of related artists drew on for inspiration in the early twentieth century. The show reveals the conditions in place that opened the door to similar artistic approaches in the Dual Monarchy which would ultimately lead to the emergence of abstract art.

The Franz Joseph 1830-1916 (www.franzjoseph2016.at) exhibitions in Vienna and Lower Austria will mark the 100th anniversary of the death of the legendary Emperor. Presented according to different themes, each of the special shows puts the monarch in the spotlight, taking a critical look at his personal life and touching on various aspects of his politics. The exhibition at Schönbrunn Palace is all about the Man & Monarch, with Majesty & Modesty the focus at the Imperial Coach Collection, Festivities & Everyday Life in the spotlight at the Imperial Furniture Collection and finally Hunting & Leisure taking center stage at Schloss Niederweiden in Lower Austria. 

Anselm Kiefer is one of the most important artists of our age. In a first comprehensive retrospective, the Albertina is showing 30 monumental key works selected from his famous woodcuts, and presenting picture cycles and thematic groups. Kiefer’s work is characterized by an intensive examination of German history, cultural history and mythology.

Quintessentially Viennese exhibition Fürstenglanz takes the transformation of Prince Eugene of Savoy’s Winterpalais into a modern museum as the opportunity for a historic review of princely wealth, Baroque galleries and the art of order. The core of the exhibition is the princely collection catalogues of the major European Baroque galleries which made a statement about the wealth and status of their creators and were the precursors of today’s art and exhibition catalogues.

The Austrian National Library is devoting a major exhibition to Franz Joseph I entitled The Eternal Emperor to mark the 100th anniversary of the monarch’s death. It focuses on the ruler as a public figure who was also one of the most frequently pictured individuals of the 19th century. Today there are more than 10,000 photographs, graphics and other documents from Franz Joseph’s lifetime in the Austrian National Library archives. The exhibits on show in the State Hall represent the cream of this extensive collection. They will be joined by the original suicide letters left behind by Mary Vetsera in Mayerling and an envelope closed with Crown Prince Rudolf’s seal – the first time the letters have gone on display in public since their sensational discovery earlier this year.

A new exhibition at the Wien Museum Karlsplatz entitled Hats! A Social History of the Covered Head shows head coverings, their wearers and their social status in Viennese society from the 19th century to the present day. The majority of the exhibits are taken from the museum’s own fashion collection, which is one of the most important in Europe.

• Chagall to Malevich. The Russian Avant Gardes, Feb 26-Jun 26, 2016, Albertina, Albertinaplatz 1, 1010 Vienna, www.albertina.at
• The Promise of Total Automation, Mar 4-May 8, 2016 Kunsthalle Wien Museumsquartier, Museumsplatz 1, 1070 Vienna, www.kunsthallewien.at
• Feste Feiern – 125 Years of the KHM, Mar 8-Sep 18, 2016, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Maria-Theresien-Platz, 1010 Vienna, www.khm.at
• 250 Years of the Prater, Mar 10-Aug 21, 2016, Wien Museum Karlsplatz, Karlsplatz, 1040 Vienna, www.wienmuseum.at
• Formkunst. Klimt – Kupka – Hoffmann – Hölzel – Filla - Capek – Picasso -- Braque, Mar 10-Jun 19, 2016, Lower Belvedere, Rennweg 6, 1030 Vienna, www.belvedere.at
• Franz Joseph 1830-1916 special exhibitions, Mar 16-Nov 27, 2016, www.franzjoseph2016.at:
  Man & Monarch, Schönbrunn Palace, Schönbrunner Schlossstrasse, 1130 Vienna, www.schoenbrunn.at
  Majesty & Modesty, Imperial Carriage Museum Vienna, Schönbrunner Schlossstrasse, 1130 Vienna, www.khm.at
  Festivities & Everyday Life. Imperial Furniture Collection. Andreasgasse 7, 1070 Vienna, www.hofmobiliendepot.at
  Hunting & Leisure, Schloss Niederweiden (Lower Austria), Niederweiden, 2292 Engelhartstetten, www.schlosshof.at
• Anselm Kiefer. The Woodcuts, Mar 17-Jun 19, 2015, Albertina, Albertinaplatz 1, 1010 Vienna, www.albertina.at
• Fürstenglanz. European Baroque Galleries and the Art of Order, Mar 18-Jun 26, 2016, Winterpalais, Himmelpfortgasse 8, 1010 Vienna, www.belvedere.at
• The Eternal Emperor. Franz Joseph I. 1830–1916, Apr 8-Oct 30, 2016 State Hall of the Austrian National Library, Hofburg, Josefsplatz 1, 1010 Vienna, www.onb.ac.at
• Hat! A Social History of the Covered Head, Jun 9-Oct 30, 2016, Wien Museum Karlsplatz, Karlsplatz, 1040 Vienna, www.wienmuseum.at