Museum der Moderne Salzburg

The Museum der Moderne Salzburg is a two-site art museum in Salzburg, Austria, dedicated to modern and contemporary art. Founded in 1983 and expanded in 2004, it operates from the historic Rupertinum in the old town and a purpose-built museum on the Mönchsberg hill. The institution traces its origins to a major donation by Salzburg art dealer Friedrich Welz, whose personal friendship with Oskar Kokoschka brought significant works by the Austrian expressionist into the collection. With 3,000 square metres of exhibition space across both locations, the museum presents thematic and monographic exhibitions of twentieth- and twenty-first-century art, with particular strengths in Austrian modernism, international graphics, and post-1945 photography.

The museum's foundation rests on the initiative of Friedrich Welz, a Salzburg art dealer who donated a substantial portion of his private collection to the state of Salzburg, including numerous works by his friend Oskar Kokoschka. In 1983, the Rupertinum opened as the Salzburger Museum für moderne Kunst und graphische Sammlungen, with Otto Breicha as founding director. Breicha integrated the Austrian Photographic Gallery (Österreichische Fotogalerie) into the museum, establishing what would become the most important collection of contemporary Austrian photography. After two decades, planning began for a second building to accommodate the growing institution. In 2003, the Museum der Moderne, Rupertinum Betriebsgesellschaft mbH was established, and the new Mönchsberg building opened in October 2004, integrating the former Rupertinum collection into an expanded institutional concept. Agnes Husslein directed the museum at this opening; she was succeeded by Toni Stoos (2005-2013), Sabine Breitwieser (2013-2018), Thorsten Sadowsky (2018-2022), and since January 2023 by Harald Krejci.

The Museum der Moderne Salzburg holds a collection of Austrian art from classical modernism to the present, alongside international works. Its holdings encompass painting, sculpture, and an extensive international graphic collection. A further concentration is Austrian photography after 1945. The museum also administers two significant photographic collections as permanent loans: the photographic collection of the Republic of Austria (Österreichische Fotogalerie) and the Fotografis collection of Bank Austria. In January 2014, the Generali Foundation collection was also entrusted to the museum as a permanent loan. The exhibition programme in both buildings presents modern and contemporary visual arts, serving as a platform for contemporary Austrian artists while also showing international positions.

The founding donation from Friedrich Welz provided the museum with a significant core of works, including a major portion of Oskar Kokoschka's graphic oeuvre. The integration of the Austrian Photographic Gallery under Otto Breicha established the basis for what remains the most important collection of contemporary Austrian photography. The museum's management of the Bank Austria Fotografis collection and the Republic of Austria's photographic collection as permanent loans substantially augments its photographic holdings. The Generali Foundation collection, added in 2014 as a permanent loan, further expanded the museum's capacity to present significant modern and contemporary works.

The Rupertinum occupies an early Baroque town palace in Salzburg's old town, between Franziskaner Church and Kollegien Church at Max-Reinhardt-Platz. First documented in 1350, the building was completed in 1633 under Archbishop Paris Lodron as the Collegium Rupertinum, a seminary for training priests and officials. It served as a student dormitory until 1974; the state of Salzburg acquired it in 1976. Architect Gerhard Garstenauer adapted the building for museum use, while Friedensreich Hundertwasser designed ceramic "tongue beards" (Zungenbärte) for the courtyard façade, which provoked heated debate at the 1983 opening. The most extensive refurbishment occurred in 1999.

The Mönchsberg building, sixty metres above Anton-Neumayr-Platz, replaced a site previously occupied by the Restauration Elektrischer Aufzug (from 1890), the Grand Café Winkler (from 1946), and from 1977 to 1993 the Salzburg Casino. After an unsuccessful 1980s competition won by Álvaro Siza Vieira and abandoned discussions involving the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Hans Hollein, a second international competition was launched in 1998 on the initiative of Landeshauptmann Franz Schausberger. From 145 submissions, a jury chaired by Luigi Snozzi selected the Munich architects Friedrich, Hoff and Zwink. Constructed in three and a half years, the cubic masonry building is clad entirely in local Untersberg marble separated by vertical joints. Behind a broad glazed opening on the front façade, which houses the museum restaurant, the building offers four levels for varied exhibition formats. The façade joints contain a specially programmed reference to Salzburg: chords from certain arias in Mozart's Don Giovanni are inscribed in rhythmically positioned slots.

The Museum der Moderne Salzburg operates two locations in Salzburg, Austria. The Rupertinum stands in the historic centre at Max-Reinhardt-Platz, near the Festspielhaus, offering exhibitions of graphics and photography in adapted Baroque interiors with a typical Salzburg old-town courtyard. The Mönchsberg building, reached from the city centre, provides a contemporary setting for modern art with panoramic views over Salzburg from its cliff-top position. Together the two buildings offer 3,000 square metres of exhibition space for rotating displays. The museum is owned by the state of Salzburg and operates as a limited liability company (Museum der Moderne, Rupertinum favored languages Betriebsgesellschaft mbH). Information on current exhibitions, opening hours, and access is available through the museum's official website at www.museumdermoderne.at.