---
type: exposition
title: The Challenge of Modernism
language: en
url: "https://www.belvedere.at/en/challenge-modernism-0"
---

# The Challenge of Modernism

## Vienna and Zagreb around 1900

![Oil on canvas](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/header_cropped_1920x480_fp/public/jart-images/_499086419318.jpg.webp?itok=KvZjSGb7) 

**Duration:** 20 October 2017 - 18 February 2018

**In the years around 1900, the multi-ethnic realm of the Habsburg Monarchy experienced a lively exchange of art and culture between Vienna, its center, and the main cities of the Crown lands such as Zagreb. For the development of Croatian art around the turn of the century, this exchange was very significant.**

In the exhibition, the connections and points of reference at the start of the twentieth century are presented by key works of Austrian and Croatian artists of that period.  
Artists and architects who were trained in Vienna brought the new trends in art to Zagreb and, within 20 years, the overall character of cultural life at the time was fundamentally changed.  

On show are works by Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser, Carl Moll, Vlaho Bukovac, Ivan Meštrović, Robert Auer, Tomislav Krizman as well as other protagonists of the Viennese and Modernism.  

The exhibition is a cooperation with the Klovićevi dvori Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia.  

\#WienZagreb

## Impressions

- ![Herausforderung Moderne — Vlaho Bukovac, Portrait Vilma Babi? Gjalski, 1895 — © Private collection Zagreb](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_488204639726.jpg.webp?itok=IjR-TpPD)
- ![Herausforderung Moderne — Vlaho Bukovac, Summertime, 1903 — © Belvedere, Vienna](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_492360586036.jpg.webp?itok=gG9UcDk2)
- ![Herausforderung Moderne — Mato Celestin Medovi?, Moonlight, Vienna, 1912-1914 — © Private collection, Zagreb](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_488204639727.jpg.webp?itok=cPSy5_tt)
- ![Herausforderung Moderne — Antonija Krasnik, flower vase, around 1903 — © Muzej za umjetnost i obrt, Zagreb](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_488204639749.jpg.webp?itok=KUhHx5K1)
- ![Herausforderung Moderne — Dress designed by Bela Csikos Sesia for his models referencing the reform dress — © Muzej za umjetnost i obrt](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_499086418286.jpg.webp?itok=d15UNmBv)
- ![Oil on canvas — Robert Auer, Portrait of the artist's wife with muff (Leopoldine Auer Schmidt), 1902 — © Private collection](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_499086419318_0.jpg.webp?itok=rfsith92)
- ![Herausforderung Moderne — Exhibition view "The Challenge of Modernism. Vienna and Zagreb around 1900" — Photo: Johannes Stoll © Belvedere, Wien](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_499086586511.jpg.webp?itok=H2wddPy0)
- ![Herausforderung Moderne — Exhibition view "The Challenge of Modernism. Vienna and Zagreb around 1900" — Photo: Johannes Stoll © Belvedere, Wien](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_499086586510.jpg.webp?itok=tOoIxwif)
- ![Herausforderung Moderne — Exhibition view "The Challenge of Modernism. Vienna and Zagreb around 1900" — Photo: Johannes Stoll © Belvedere, Wien](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_499086586509.jpg.webp?itok=yrVum9Sz)
- ![Herausforderung Moderne — Exhibition view "The Challenge of Modernism. Vienna and Zagreb around 1900" — Photo: Johannes Stoll © Belvedere, Wien](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_499086586508.jpg.webp?itok=3U5KhPED)
- ![Herausforderung Moderne — Exhibition view "The Challenge of Modernism. Vienna and Zagreb around 1900" — Photo: Johannes Stoll © Belvedere, Wien](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_499086586507.jpg.webp?itok=0IVGTpaV)
- ![Herausforderung Moderne — Exhibition view "The Challenge of Modernism. Vienna and Zagreb around 1900" — Photo: Johannes Stoll © Belvedere, Wien](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_499086586506.jpg.webp?itok=Em-6yoGF)