--- type: magazine_content title: Belvedere Without Men language: en url: "https://www.belvedere.at/en/stories/belvedere-without-men" --- # Belvedere Without Men ![Image](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/full_width/public/2026-04/Kiki%20Kogelnik_Triangle_1975.jpg.webp?itok=hNkc6gN1) **Category:** Perspectives Collection [Audio](javascript:void(0);) [Feminism](javascript:void(0);) **Published:** 08.04.2026 **Reading time:** 2 min read An Audio Tour That Changes Your Perspective **Text:** Lisa Ebner-Kollmann **Photos:** Belvedere, Wien **Audiotour:** Katy Hessel The Belvedere Collection draws visitors with big names in art history: Klimt, Schiele, van Gogh, Monet, Cranach, and Waldmüller shape our view of European art and its various styles. As diverse as their works may be, they have one thing in common – they were all created by men. But what happens when art history is told differently – deliberately without men? With the Belvedere Without Men audio tour, the Belvedere invites visitors to discover its own collection from a new perspective. The tour is part of the international series *Museums Without Men*, initiated by art historian, curator, and author Katy Hessel. Together with the platform Smartify, she develops audio formats for museums worldwide. In doing so, she specifically highlights works by women artists and challenges the art-historical canon. At the Belvedere, this alternative narrative guides visitors through familiar spaces and opens up unfamiliar perspectives. The central question is who has become visible in art history and who has long been overlooked. The selection of works – from Elena Luksch-Makowsky and Anna Maria Punz to Maria Lassnig and VALIE EXPORT – not only highlights female artists but also encourages a fresh look at familiar works: How are women depicted? Who is looking, and who is being looked at? The English-language tour is available via the [Smartify ](https://app.smartify.org/de-DE/tours/museums-without-men-by-katy-hessel)app and can be used anywhere – including right inside the museum – inviting visitors to experience the Belvedere and its collection anew and perhaps see it in a different light. Formats like this audio tour make it clear that museums are not static places. Their collections remain the same, but the perspectives from which we view them are changing. Even in 2026, women around the world are still fighting for equality, equity, and above all, self-determination over their own lives and bodies. This makes it all the more important to make their perspectives visible and ensure their voices are heard. The Belvedere sees itself as a place that gives space to marginalized positions and feminist perspectives – and invites us to reexamine art history and critically question our present. **Katy Hessel** is one of the strongest international feminist voices in recent art history, expanding and rethinking the canon. With her book “*The Story of Art Without Men*” and her project “*The Great Women Artists*”, she is committed to bringing the contributions of women artists more into the public consciousness - not as an addition, but as an integral part of art history. ![Die Kunsthistorikerin Katy Hessel in einem roten Anzug im Portrait — © Lily Bertrand-Webb](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/full_content_width_no_crop/public/2026-04/256400020001.jpg.webp?itok=zQ9jIQPi) > I hope that this audio tour from the Museums Without Men series will also take visitors on an exciting journey and lead to a deeper understanding of the women who have shaped art history. > > Katy Hessel ## Listen now - ![A brown Jug, glass vase with white flower and white porcelain dish on a wooden cupboard. — Still Life with Jug and Tulip (1754) — Photo: Johannes Stoll / Belvedere, Wien](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/full_content_width_no_crop/public/2026-04/Anna%20Maria%20Punz_Stilleben%20mit%20Krug%20und%20Tulpe_1754.jpg.webp?itok=k5Vh6nwF) - ![Flower Wreath with Madonna Relief — Pauline von Koudelka-Schmerling, Flower Wreath with Madonna Relief (1834) — Photo: Johannes Stoll / Belvedere, Wien](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/full_content_width_no_crop/public/2026-04/Pauline%20von%20Koudelka-Schmerling_Blumenkranz%20mit%20Madonnenrelief_1834.jpg.webp?itok=bSBf8XYi) - ![Undressed adolescent girl in the foreground being curiously but cautiosly noticed by adolescent males in the background. — Elena Luksch-Makowsky, Adolescentia (1903) — © Nachlass Elena Luksch-Makowsky, Photo: Johannes Stoll, Belvedere](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/full_content_width_no_crop/public/2026-04/5948.jpg.webp?itok=xeCcupPo) - ![Young woman with light red hair holding a comb. — Marie-Louise von Motesiczky, Self Portrait with Comb (1926) — © Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust 2025, Photo: Johannes Stoll, Belvedere](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/full_content_width_no_crop/public/2026-04/Marie%20Louise%20von%20Motesiczky_Selbstportrait%20mit%20Kamm.jpg.webp?itok=L6REgE3P) - ![Iconic double self-portrait with Camera: One version of the woman is sitting in a chair, while the other is depicted on a canvas behind her, standing up, holding a camera. — Maria Lassnig, Double Self-Portrait with Camera (1974) — © Maria Lassnig Stiftung / Bildrecht, Wien 2025, Artothek des Bundes, Permanent Loan at Belvedere, Wien, Photo: Johannes Stoll / Belvedere, Wien](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/full_content_width_no_crop/public/2026-04/Maria%20lassnig_Doppelselbstportr%C3%A4t%20mit%20Kamera_1974.jpg.webp?itok=XMr5okoU) - ![Schwarzweißfotografie einer jungen Frau auf dem Boden kauernd, den Körper krampfhaft gebeugt, den Kopf fest umklammert — Margot Pilz, Sekundenskulptur, 1979 — © Bildrecht, Vienna 2025, Foto: Johannes Stoll / Belvedere, Vienna](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/full_content_width_no_crop/public/2025-01/Margot%20Pilz_Sekundenskulptur_1979.jpg.webp?itok=Bd2CeLW8) - ![Zwei weibliche Figuren im Pop-Art-Stil vor einem blauen Dreieck aneinanderstehend, im Vordergrund schlängelt sich eine grüne Schlange — Kiki Kogelnik, Triangle, 1975 — 1983 Artothek des Bundes, Dauerleihgabe im Belvedere, Wien, © Kiki Kogelnik Foundation, Foto: Johannes Stoll / Belvedere, Wien](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/full_content_width_no_crop/public/2026-04/Kiki%20Kogelnik_Triangle_1975.jpg.webp?itok=NuHG-LLQ) - ![Zwei Scheren aus Aluminiumguss, verschränkt zu einer Figur — Valie EXPORT, Die Doppelgängerin, 2010 — © VALIE EXPORT / Bildrecht, Vienna 2025, Photo: Johannes Stoll / Belvedere, Vienna](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/full_content_width_no_crop/public/2025-01/Valie%20export_Doppelg%C3%A4ngerin_2010.jpg.webp?itok=NDZI3R2L) - ![Skulptur in Form einer überdimensionalen rosa Kappe im Skulpturengarten des Belvedere 21 — Maruša Sagadin, B-Girls, Go! (2018) © Bildrecht, Vienna 2025 — Photo: Johannes Stoll / Belvedere, Vienna](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/full_content_width_no_crop/public/2025-01/Marusa%20sagadin_B-Girls%2C%20Go%21_2018.jpg.webp?itok=GSXvVA_j)