Image: Alexandra Exter: Sketch for the Theatre Play "Salome", 1917 52 × 35 cm, Gouache auf Papier (The ALBERTINA Museum, Vienna – Private Collection)
'HER STORY' is on view at the Albertina in Vienna from 30 October 2026 until 14 February 2027. The epoch-spanning exhibition takes stock for the first time of the women artists in the Albertina’s collection.
Spanning five centuries, 'HER STORY' moves from drawings and prints by early engravers and publishers to modern artists and pioneering feminist artists of the 1970s. The exhibition includes artists ranging from Diana Scultori, Magdalena de Passe and Maria Sibylla Merian to Angelica Kauffmann, Berthe Morisot, Käthe Kollwitz, Sonia Delaunay, Louise Bourgeois, Maria Lassnig and VALIE EXPORT.
Its biographies portray women artists as enterprising and engaged protagonists who explored the world around them, established important networks and pursued their careers. The exhibition’s stated premise is that women artists have always been part of art history, but that their work has seldom received the recognition it deserves.
The presentation includes Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun’s 'A young woman draws the portrait of a girl', made around 1790–95. It also includes Emilie Mediz-Pelikan’s 'Female centaur' from 1895.
Meret Oppenheim’s 'Parapapillonneries; La psyché, amie des hommes' is from 1976. Alexandra Exter is represented by 'Sketch for the Theatre Play “Salome”' from 1917.
