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Arnulf Rainer
Austria, 1929
His commitment to the search for new pictorial approaches, accompanied by his performative work and extensive written documentation, have enshrined Arnulf Rainer as one of the most influential living artists.
Always exalting the body language that painting implies, the artist highlights the first forms of human expression and, in the 1970s, he begins to photograph himself, creating a link between the theatrical and the graphic as a means of expression.
Near to Viennese Actionism and exploring gestures through performance, he expands his practice to video, and begins painting with his hands, which will accompany him throughout his career.
Mainly interested in automatism and the desire to destroy conventional communication in order to recover the richness of human expression, Arnulf Rainer bases his expressiveness on the concealment of images of other artists and self-portraits, reaching abstraction and almost total obscuration of forms. In this sense, his body of work has always aimed to free itself from its own limitations, even exceeding by the form of canvases the conventional standards.
In 1978, he represented Austria at the Venice Biennale and participated in multiple editions of Documenta Kassel over the years. Several museums have dedicated retrospectives to his work, including the Albertina Museum, Stedelijk Museum, Guggenheim Museum, Nationalgalerie, Kunsthalle Bern, and Kunstverein Hamburg.
His works are part of collections such as Stedelijk, MoMA New York, Ludwig Museum, Tate Britain, the Metropolitan Museum, Guggenheim, and Centre Georges Pompidou, among others.
Artworks in ARCO 2025
Arnulf Rainer
Blumenserie
ca. 2000
Mixed media on paper on wood
44 x 31,5 cm
31.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Blumenserie
ca. 2000
Mixed media on paper on wood
44 x 31,5 cm
31.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Hand- und Fingermalerei
1987-88
Oil on cardboard on wood
54 x 77 cm
142.000 € (VAT included)
Rot Blau Gelb. 2024
The art of Arnulf Rainer the “black over painting”, with which he covers previous work, is world famous. We overlook the fact that over paintings in red, blue, green and white also exist and thus that color always belonged to his means of expression, as this volume vividly demonstrates.
Characteristic of Rainer’s work is not only the use of paint, but also the way that he applies it, as the energetic use of physical strength in his hand and finger paintings from the 1970s and 1980s shows. At the end of this period, he changed over to a more transparent painting method and used broad brushes to apply the paint like a veil. Blattmalerei, Engel, Geologica, Goya, Landschaften, Mikrokosmos and Makrokosmos.
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
2015-16
Acrylic on paper on wood
52 x 37 cm
39.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
2015-16
Tempera on paper on wood
52 x 37 cm
39.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
2015-16
Acrylic on paper on wood
52 x 36,5 cm
39.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
2015-16
Temper on paper on wood
52 x 37 cm
39.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
2015-16
Acrylic on paper on wood
52 x 37 cm
39.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
2015-16
Acrylic on paper on wood
52 x 37 cm
39.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
2005
Tempera on wood
85 x 64 cm
92.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
2005
Tempera on wood
87,5 x 70 cm
92.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
2004
Tempera on wood
82,5 x 62,5 cm
92.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
2004
Temper on wood
84,5 x 64 cm
92.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
2004
Tempera on wood
85 x 64 cm
92.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled (C05)
2002
Acrylic on paper on wood
61 x 43,5 cm
70.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled (C02)
2002
Acrylic on paper on wood
64 x 51,5 cm
70.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
2001
Temper on wood
82,5 x 62,5 cm
92.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
2001
Tempera on wood
82,5 x 62,5 cm
92.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
2001
Tempera on wood
82,5 x 62,5 cm
92.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
2001
Temper on wood
82,5 x 62,5 cm
92.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
2000
Temper on wood
82,5 x 62,5 cm
92.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
2000
Tempera on wood
83 x 62,5 cm
92.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
2000
Tempera on wood
82,5 x 62,5 cm
92.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Blumenserie
ca. 2000
Mixed media on paper on wood
44 x 31,5 cm
31.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Blumenserie
ca. 2000
Mixed media on paper on wood
44 x 31,5 cm
31.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Blumenserie
ca. 2000
Mixed media on paper on wood
44 x 31,5 cm
31.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Blumenserie
ca. 2000
Mixed media on paper on wood
44 x 31,5 cm
31.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Blumenserie
ca. 2000
Mixed media on paper on wood
44 x 31,5 cm
31.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Blumenserie
ca. 2000
Mixed media on paper on wood
44 x 31,5 cm
31.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
C01. Untitled (Botticelli)
1998-99
Acrylic on paper on wood
84,5 x 64,5 cm
95.000 € (VAT included)
Farbenfest
Born in Baden, Austria in 1929. Member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Berlin and Vienna, Max Beckman Prize and International Photography Prize of New York. He has had retrospectives shows in the Guggenheim of New York, Galleria d’arte Moderno di Bolonia, Georges Pompidou in Paris, Kunsthalle Wien, Nationalgalerie in Berlin, and Albertina Museum in Viena and participated in de Kassel Documenta and the Biennale di Venezia in several occasions. His work can be found, among others, in the collections of the Tate Gallery, MOMA, Ludwig Museum, Stedelijk Amsterdam, NeueNatioanl Gallery in Berlin, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia Guggenheim, Metropolitan Museum NYC etc.
Interested in the automatism Arnulf Rainer he started very soon to base his expressivity in the act of hiding existing images getting closer to abstraction, and to the total concealment of forms.Always emphasizing the human act of painting and the body language that painting involves, Rainer praises the first forms of human expression, using the hands to extend the painting, and with unconsciousness as a creative goal.
In the 70’s he starts to take photographs of himself. Creating a link between the theatrical and the graphic as a media of expression he gets closer to the Viennese Actionism and exploring body language through performance he expands his practice to video.
In the last series of work presented at the gallery within these videos, painting stops being closer to monochrome to show brighter colors in different layers, more transparent and free. In Beautiful Ladies, the artist goes back to the faces, one of his main themes, with the intention to touch preexistent images and emphasize them.
Sign of the obsession of the artist to be free of his own limitations, his paintings show his search of the maximum expressivity trough colors, textures and gestures. Even the format of some canvases exceeds the conventional limits and adopts the form of the Latin cross.
From the exaltation to the resignation, from the conventional image or the photographic one distorted, to the absence of images, each series of works by Arnulf Rainer is different, but they all share the wish to destroy the conventional communication to recover the richness of the human expression.
Arnulf Rainer
Lotus gelb
1996
Temper on cardboard on wood
103,5 x 73,5 cm
200.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
1996
Temper on cardboard on wood
103,5 x 73,5 cm
200.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Rosa Blüten
1996
Tempera on cardboard on wood
103,5 x 73,5 cm
200.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Firmament
1995-96
Temper on cardboard on wood
76,5 x 105,5 cm
200.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
1995
Temper on cardboard on wood
105 x 76,5 cm
200.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
1995
Temper on cardboard on wood
105 x 76,5 cm
200.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Wind Mühle
1995
Oil on paper and cardboard on wood
102 x 73 cm
200.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Makrokosmos
1994/95
Tempera on cardboard on wood
105,5 x 76,5 cm
200.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Mikrokosmos
1994
Temper on cardboard on wood
105,5 x 76,5 cm
200.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
1993
Oil on paper on wood
60 x 46 cm
70.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
1993
Pastel, oil on paper and cardboard on wood
63 x 84 cm
142.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Engel in landschaft
1991-92
Oil on paper and cardboard on wood
73 x 102 cm
200.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Landschaft
1991-92
Pastel and oil on paper on wood
73 x 102 cm
200.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
C17. (‘Goya’ series)
1983
Mixed technique on photograph on wood
63,5 x 52,5 cm
94.000 € (VAT included)
Visages
With a selection of artworks spanning from 1970 to 2002, Visages reviews the importance of faces in the work of Arnulf Rainer through three different series: his self-portraits or Face farces, the Death Masks or Totenmaskes and finally the veiled pictures or Schleierbildern, in which the artist uses as a departure point preexisting images from the history of art.
With the prominence of the Face Farces, which depict a person who can only express himself through the movements of his body, in an attempt of the artist to dissolve himself, as a metaphoric gesture of the oblivion, completely deliberated, of what art is, this exhibition gathers a series of works that insist the whole of art can find its origins in an artist. Either a naked man without any tools for the act of painting, overflowed by painting, either his gaze covering preexisting images.
The overpaintings of the Schleierbilder are the physical trace of this gaze, without the intention of adding any further meaning to the previous image, but rather remove excess meaning anchored to the image through habits and historicization of art.
‘Just as Cézanne, undaunted, observed his apples and his mountains, and day by day helped them to life in his painting, so too does Rainer tirelessly recounts what he observes, day by day, in art, paintings and life’ Jean-Michel Foray.
Arnulf Rainer
P22 (‘Goya’ series)
1983
Mixed technique on photography
24 x 17 cm
16.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
C22. (‘Goya’ series)
1983
Mixed technique on photograph on wood
63 x 52,5 cm
84.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
C21. (‘Goya’ series)
1983
Mixed technique on photograph on wood
62,5 x 52 cm
84.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
C20. (‘Goya’ series)
1983
Mixed media on photograph on wood
63 x 52,5 cm
84.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
C18. (‘Goya’ series)
1983
Mixed media on photograph on wood
63 x 52,5 cm
94.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
P20. (‘Goya’ series)
1983
Mixed technique on photograph
24 x 17 cm
18.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
P18. (‘Goya’ series)
1983
Mixed media on photography
24 x 17 cm
18.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
P19 (‘GOYA’ series)
Mixed media on photograph
24 x 17 cm
18.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
P17. (‘Goya’ series)
1983
Mixed media on photograph
24 x 17 cm
18.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
C19. (‘Goya’ series)
1983
Mixed media on photograph on wood
63 x 52,5 cm
94.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
C11. (‘Riemenschneider’ series)
1980-81
Oilstick on photograph on wood
62 x 52 cm
Arnulf Rainer
P05. (‘Christusköpfe’ series)
1980-81
Oilstick on photograph on wood
62 x 52 cm
Arnulf Rainer
P07. (‘Christusköpfe’ series)
1979-80
Mixed media on paper
26,5×19,5 cm
18.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
P06. (‘Christusköpfe’ series)
1979-80
Indian ink on paper
27 x 20 cm
18.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
P01. (‘Christusköpfe’ series)
1979
Indian ink on paper
30 x 25,5 cm
18.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
P02. (‘Christusköpfe’ series)
1979
Indian ink on paper
30,5 x 25 cm
18.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
P14. Friedrich Nietzsche (‘Totenmasken’ series)
1978
Pencil on photograph
30 x 21,5 cm
18.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
P13. Ludwig van Beethoven (‘Totenmasken’ series)
1978
Pencil on photograph
29,5 x 25 cm
18.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
P10. Franz Liszt’ (‘Totenmasken’ series)
1978
Pencil on photograph
29,5 x 25 cm
18.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
P08. Verwischte Maske (‘Totenmasken’ series)
1978
Mixed media on photograph
30 x 24,5 cm
18.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
P09. Friedrich Nietzsche (‘Totenmasken’ series)
1978
Mixed media on photograph
30 x 24,5 cm
18.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
C16. (‘Face Farces’ series)
1970-75
Mixed media on photograph on wood
62 x 52 cm
106.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
C15. (‘Face Farces’ series)
1970-75
Mixed media on photograph on wood
54,5 x 64,5 cm
106.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
C14. (‘Face Farces’ series)
1970-75
Mixed media on photograph on wood
50 x 61,5 cm
106.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
C13. (‘Face Farces’ series)
1970-75
Mixed media on photograph on wood
50,5 x 63 cm
106.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
P29. (‘Face Farces’ series)
1970-75
Pencil on photograph
18 x 24 cm
20.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
P30. (‘Face Farces’ series)
1970-75
Pencil on photograph
18 x 24 cm
20.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
C12. Porträt Samuel D. (‘Face Farces’ series)
1970-75
Mixed media on photograph on wood
63 x 53 cm
106.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
P26. (‘Face Farces’ series)
1970-75
Pencil on photograph
24 x 18 cm
20.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
P28. (‘Face Farces’ series)
1970-75
Pencil on photograph
28 x 24 cm
20.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
P25. (‘Face Farces’ series)
1970-75
Pencil on photograph
24 x 18 cm
20.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
P24. (‘Face Farces’ series)
1970-75
Pencil on photograph
31,5 x 24,5 cm
24.500 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled (‘Face Farces’ series)
1970-75
Pencil on photograph
31,5 x 24,5 cm
24.500 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
undated
Acrylic on paper on wood
51,5 x 37 cm
39.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
undated
Acrylic on paper on wood
52 x 37 cm
39.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
undated
Temper on paper on wood
51,5 x 36,5 cm
39.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
undated
Acrylic on paper on wood
40,5 x 30 cm
31.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
undated
Tempera on wood
43,5 x 31,5 cm
31.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
undated
Acrylic on paper on wood
43,5 x 31,5 cm
31.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
undated
Acrylic on paper on wood
43,5 x 31,5 cm
31.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
undated
Acrylic on paper on wood
43,5 x 31,5 cm
31.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
undated
Acrylic on paper on wood
43,5 x 31,5 cm
31.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
undated
Acrylic on paper on wood
31,5 x 43,5 cm
31.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
undated
Tempera on paper on wood
51,5 x 36,5 cm
39.000 € (VAT included)
Arnulf Rainer
Awards and Distinctions
2019
-
Silver Commander’s Cross of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Province of Lower Austria
-
Grand Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria
2015
-
Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class
2014
-
Grand Gold Decoration of Honour for Services to the Province of Lower Austria
2006
-
Aragón-Goya Prize
2004
-
Honorary Doctorate, University of Münster
2003
-
Rhenus Art Prize
1989
-
Gold Medal of Honour of the City of Vienna
-
International Center of Photography Prize, New York
1982
-
Max Beckmann Prize
1978
-
Grand Austrian State Prize for Fine Arts
1966
-
Austrian State Prize for Graphic Art (jointly with Gotthard Muhr)
Solo Exhibitions (Selection)
2025
Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin
Arnulf Rainer Museum, Vienna
2024
Arnulf Rainer Museum, Vienna
2022
MARe – Museum of Recent Art, Bucharest, Romania
2020
Arnulf Rainer Museum, Vienna
2019
Albertina, Vienna
2017
Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz, Linz
Arnulf Rainer Museum, Vienna
2016
Arnulf Rainer Museum, Vienna
Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah
2015
Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden
Museum Weserburg, Bremen
Kunstmuseum Ahlen, Ahlen
Cobra Museum of Modern Art, Amstelveen
Arnulf Rainer Museum, Vienna
2014
Arnulf Rainer Museum, Vienna
Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin
Albertina, Vienna
2013
TEA – Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Arnulf Rainer Museum, Vienna
2012
Arnulf Rainer Museum, Vienna
Kunsthalle Rostock, Germany
Stiftskirche Baden-Baden, Germany
2011
Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, Madrid
Maison de Victor Hugo, Paris
Arnulf Rainer Museum, Vienna
2010
Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
Arnulf Rainer Museum, Vienna
Catholic Academy, Munich
Vincent van Gogh Huis, Zundert
Rogaland Kunstmuseum, Stavanger
2009
Musée d’Art Moderne de Saint-Étienne Métropole, France
Museum der Moderne, Salzburg
Museum Moderner Kunst Kärnten, Austria
Albertina, Vienna
2008
Austrian Gallery in the Belvedere, Vienna
2007
MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles
Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
2006
District Gallery Schloss Neuburg, Germany
Zaragoza Museum, Zaragoza, Spain
MAK, Vienna
Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden
2005
Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg
Armando Museum, Amersfoort
Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague
2004
Kunsthalle Jesuitenkirche, Aschaffenburg / Kunstmuseum Mülheim an der Ruhr / Haus am Waldsee, Berlin
Museo dello Splendore, Giulianova
Westphalian State Museum, Münster
Atterseehalle, Attersee
Musée National Marc Chagall, Nice
2003
Museo Correr, Venice
Museo Diocesano d’Arte Sacra, Venice
2002
Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
2001
Museum Würth, Künzelsau
Sinclair-Haus, Bad Homburg
Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich
2000
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Provincial Center for Visual Arts, Hasselt
Kunstforum Wien, Vienna
Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz, Linz
1999
Municipal Art Collections Augsburg, Neue Galerie im Höhmann-Haus
City Gallery of Bratislava
1998
Carolino Augusteum, Salzburg Museum of Art and Cultural History / Theatermuseum, Hanover
1997
Kunsthalle Krems
Kunstmuseum Bonn / State Gallery Moritzburg, Halle / Rupertinum, Salzburg
1996
Carinthian State Gallery, Klagenfurt
State Museum of Art and Cultural History, Oldenburg
Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht
CGAC – Galician Center for Contemporary Art, Santiago de Compostela
1995
Museion – Museum of Modern Art, Bolzano
National Museum Cotroceni, Bucharest / National Museum Brukenthal, Sibiu
Palazzo Ducale, Genoa
1994
Schömer-Haus, Klosterneuburg / Cultural Center of Graz
City Museums of Recklinghausen / Municipal Art Gallery
Museum of Modern Art – Wörlen Foundation, Passau / Zehntscheuer Cultural Association, Rottenburg / Egon Schiele Center, Český Krumlov
Listasafn Íslands, Reykjavik / 23rd São Paulo Biennial (special exhibition)
National Museum of Fine Arts, Buenos Aires / Santiago / Montevideo
Múcsarnok, Budapest / National Gallery Prague, Trade Fair Palace
1993
Kunsthalle Dominikanerkirche, Osnabrück / Hessian State Museum, Darmstadt
Upper Austrian Art Association, Linz
1992
The Menil Collection, Houston
Kunst-Station Sankt Peter, Cologne
Carinthian State Gallery, Klagenfurt / Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana
Fundação de Serralves, Porto
1990
Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht
Municipal Museum of Modern Art, Bonn
Saarland Museum, Saarbrücken / Malmö Konsthall / Brandenburg Art Collections, Cottbus
1989
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
City Museum of Vienna
Castello di Rivoli – Museum of Contemporary Art, Turin
Gemeentemuseum, The Hague
Bregenz Festival Hall
Moore College of Art & Design, Philadelphia
(Additional years from 1988–1951 available upon request due to length)
Public Collections (Selection)
-
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
-
Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (Otto van de Loo donation)
-
Municipal Art Museum, Bonn
-
Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt
-
Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf
-
Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf
-
Gemeentemuseum, The Hague
-
Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
-
Kunsthalle Hamburg
-
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
-
Tate Gallery, London
-
State Gallery of Modern Art, Munich
-
Lenbachhaus, Munich
-
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York
-
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
-
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
-
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
-
Rupertinum, Salzburg
-
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
-
CGAC – Galician Center for Contemporary Art, Santiago de Compostela
-
IVAM – Valencian Institute of Modern Art, Valencia
-
Museum Moderner Kunst / Museum of the 20th Century, Vienna
-
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid