Exhibition shines new light on forgotten women of Viennese modernism

A new exhibition opening today at the Landesgalerie Niederösterreich is rewriting a familiar chapter of art history—this time by placing women at its center. Titled Vienna modernism. Female. Resistant, the show marks the 100th anniversary of Wiener Frauenkunst, a progressive women artists’ association founded in 1926 by the largely overlooked but remarkably influential Fanny Harlfinger-Zakucka. Running through January 10, 2027, the exhibition invites visitors to rediscover a generation of artists who helped shape modern art in Vienna but were long pushed to the margins of history. For decades, Viennese modernism has been told through the towering figures of Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. This exhibition offers a different lens—one that reveals a vibrant, determined network of women who were working just as boldly, often under far more difficult circumstances.