Arnulf Rainer (eng)
Arnulf Rainer
Austria, 1929-2025
His commitment to the search for new pictorial approaches, together with his performative work and extensive written documentation, established Arnulf Rainer as one of the most influential artists of his generation.
Emphasizing the bodily language inherent in the act of painting, Rainer highlighted the earliest forms of human expression and, from the 1970s onward, began photographing himself, creating a link between the theatrical and the graphic as modes of expression. Closely aligned with Viennese Actionism, he explored gesture through performance, expanding his practice to video and developing a mode of painting executed with his hands, which accompanied him throughout his entire career.
Interested in automatism and in the destruction of conventional forms of communication in order to recover the richness of human expression, Rainer grounded his practice in the concealment and overpainting of images by other artists and of self-portraits, moving toward abstraction and the near-total darkening of form. In his constant effort to free himself from his own limitations, he also challenged conventional canvas formats.
In 1978 he represented Austria at the Venice Biennale and participated in several editions of Documenta Kassel. Major institutions such as the Albertina Museum, the Stedelijk Museum, the Guggenheim Museum, the Nationalgalerie, the Kunsthalle Bern, and the Kunstverein Hamburg devoted retrospective exhibitions to his work.
His works entered the collections of major institutions including the Stedelijk Museum, MoMA New York, the Ludwig Museum, Tate Britain, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Centre Georges Pompidou, among others.
Arnulf Rainer
Blumenserie
ca. 2000
Mixed media on paper on wood
44 x 31,5 cm
Arnulf Rainer
Blumenserie
ca. 2000
Mixed media on paper on wood
44 x 31,5 cm
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
2015-16
Tempera on paper on wood
52 x 37 cm
Arnulf Rainer
C01. Untitled (Botticelli)
1998-99
Acrylic on paper on wood
84,5 x 64,5 cm
Arnulf Rainer
P19 (‘GOYA’ series)
Mixed media on photograph
24 x 17 cm
Arnulf Rainer
P26. (‘Face Farces’ series)
1970-75
Pencil on photograph
24 x 18 cm
Arnulf Rainer
Firmament
1995-96
Temper on cardboard on wood
76,5 x 105,5 cm
Arnulf Rainer
Untitled
undated
Acrylic on paper on wood
31,5 x 43,5 cm
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