Black and white chalk on blue paper, just under 37 centimetres high: Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun’s “Eine junge Frau zeichnet das Porträt eines Mädchens” (A Young Woman Drawing a Girl’s Portrait), made around 1790–1795, is among the works announced for “HER STORY”. The subject itself makes a point: a woman is doing the depicting, rather than merely being depicted.
From 30 October 2026 to 14 February 2027, the Albertina in Vienna turns its attention to its holdings under the subtitle “Künstlerinnen der ALBERTINA” (Women Artists of the ALBERTINA). The preview promises an investigation spanning different periods. What will be interesting is not simply which names become visible, but which decisions lie behind that visibility.
Being in the collection is not the same as being on view
According to the museum, the exhibition stems from a research project initiated by director Ralph Gleis. Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen and Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria were already collecting works by women. This history, then, does not begin with a present-day corrective. It also demands the question of what happened to works on paper that had long been in the collection.
The accompanying Hirmer volume announces texts on around 140 women and identifies an important imbalance: only in contemporary art, it states, has there been a focus on acquiring works by women artists. This is not a statistical account of the collection as a whole. It does, however, distinguish between two tasks: researching historical holdings more thoroughly and deliberately building new holdings. The two can complement each other; one does not replace the other.
A donation with a history
Marie-Louise von Motesiczky’s case shows how tangible collection policy can be. The museum lists her announced work “Jagd” (Hunt) from 1936, executed in pastel and charcoal, as a gift from the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust. The Trust’s inventory also lists paintings, further works on paper and a sketchbook at the Albertina. This was not simply a matter of making a single work on paper available for a current occasion.
For the financial year ending on 5 April 2018, the Trust documents the completion of a donation of paintings to the Albertina that had begun earlier. It also reports that the museum exhibited donated works in 2018. This look back contradicts an overly simple narrative of visibility being achieved for the first time now: acquisition or acceptance into the collection, and presentation, already had a history.
Yet even a documented donation does not answer every question. First and foremost, it tells us how works entered the museum. Whether this leads to a regular presence, new juxtapositions with other artistic practices or further targeted acquisitions is a separate decision.
What matters after February
Particular precision is needed when it comes to attributions: who created a work is a different question from who collected or published it. The announcements reviewed provide no specific instance of a corrected attribution. It would therefore be premature to hail “HER STORY” in advance as an exhibition of spectacular reattributions.
Nor do these announcements set out a firm follow-up plan for regular collection displays. That does not prove that none is being prepared internally. It does, however, limit what the preview can promise.
Lasting benefits would be evident in verifiable steps: documented acquisition decisions, substantiated attributions and recurring visibility beyond the temporary exhibition. “HER STORY” offers an opportunity to apply these criteria. Whether the Albertina will also change its collection policy in the process remains an open and crucial question ahead of the opening.
Original reviewed by the editors · 29 October 2026
