The Albertina holds one of the world’s largest collections of works on paper, ranging from the 15th century to the present day and including architectural drawings and designs for consumer products as well as graphic art. This exhibition is designed to show off the breadth and depth of the museum’s holdings (11 December–22 March 2026). Stand-out drawings by Old Masters include Rembrandt’s Self-portrait with eyes wide open (1630), a swiftly sketched depiction of the artist looking startled, signed in spidery hand; and Titian’s woodcut The Submersion of Pharaoh’s Army in the Red Sea (1549). But it’s the contemporary works that bring home the versatility of paper as a medium. Most eye-catching, perhaps, is Birgit Knoechl’s Out of Control_Revisited – The Autonomy of Growth_0IV (2006–08/20), a sprawling mass of off-white and grey paper cut into intricate biomorphic shapes and exploding out of the corner of a gallery like Pandora’s box in monochrome.
Find out more from the Albertina’s website.
Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary
