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8 unusual facts about Academy of Fine Arts Vienna


1725 in art

January 20 – The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna is refounded by Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, as the k.k. Hofakademie der Maler, Bildhauer und Baukunst, under the direction of the French-born court painter Jacob van Schuppen.

Diedrich Diederichsen

After teaching at the Merz Academy in Stuttgart for several years, he became Professor for Theory, Practice and Communication of Contemporary Art at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in 2006.

Gregg Bordowitz

He taught video art at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Brown University, and School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1995 to 2010, before being hired as a permanent professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Laurence Caruana

After completing his studies in German and ancient Greek Philosophy (B.A. from the University of Toronto 1985), he learned classical painting techniques at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Vienna (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna 1990).

Michael Sorkin

From 1993 to 2000 he was Professor of Urbanism and Director of the Institute of Urbanism at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

Robert Schöller

When applying to the Vienna's Academy of Fine Arts in 1968, he showed up at the interview with only two etchings which he had to borrow back from clients, and eventually was told to go and paint on his own because there was not much to teach him, but, he also was invited to join a master's class.

Roger M. Buergel

Buergel received his education at the Institute of Contemporary Art (under Johannes Gachnang) at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and subsequently worked as private secretary to Viennese activist Hermann Nitsch.

Winter Palace of Prince Eugene

The ceiling painting by the French painter Ludovico Dorigny was damaged, but was eventually restored by experts from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.


Alfredo Carpaneto

As a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna ("Wiener Kunst Academy"), he was an Academy Professor Assistant and a member of the Vienna Secession as also had been Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and many other artists of his or previous eras.

Annegret Soltau

From 1967 to 1972 she studied with Hans Thiemann, Kurt Kranz, Rudolf Hausner and David Hockney at the Academy of Fine Arts Hamburg in Germany, 1972 at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in Austria.

Carl Roesner

In 1826, he began work as a proofreader for lectures at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and, in 1835, became a Professor there.

Isidore Konti

He began formal art studies at the age of 16 when he entered the Imperial Academy in Vienna where he studied under Edmund von Hellmer.

Joseph Gasser von Valhorn

Gasser was professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna from 1865 to 1873; among his most notable students were Viktor Oskar Tilgner and Theodor Khuen.

Mikhaylo Parashchuk

He enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, but graduated from the Julien Academy in Paris, France in 1910; in France, he was reportedly a student of Auguste Rodin.

Paintings by Adolf Hitler

In his autobiography Mein Kampf, Hitler described how, in his youth, he wanted to become a painter, but his aspirations were ruined because he failed the entrance exam of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

Roberta Lima

Roberta Lima studied Architecture and Urban Planning at Unisinos in southern Brazil and then went on to complete her graduate studies in Fine Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.


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