Albertina Museum in Vienna Opens Major Albrecht Dürer Retrospective

The Albertina Museum in Vienna has opened a major retrospective of Albrecht Dürer, featuring over 200 works including about 100 drawings and watercolors, graphic works, important paintings from international loans, rare documents, and personal notes. The exhibition is curated by Christof Metzger, the museum's chief curator and a Dürer scholar. The show includes Dürer's iconic watercolor Feldhase (Hare), 1502, which has not been publicly displayed for three years except for a seven-hour event. The Albertina holds 140 drawings by the Nuremberg master. The exhibition challenges the traditional view of Dürer as melancholic, with Metzger stating that the 'Panofsky model' rooted in psychoanalysis is exaggerated and outdated. Metzger emphasizes the centrality of drawing in Dürer's practice, noting that works like Feldhase and Praying Hands (1508) demonstrate technical virtuosity and a perfect artistic form achieved through the study of nature. Dürer, born in Nuremberg in 1471, was a painter, engraver, author of treatises and autobiographical writings, and a student of mathematics. He died in his hometown in 1528. The exhibition runs until January 6, 2020.