Baden pairs Rainer and Nitsch in first joint exhibition

Works by Arnulf Rainer and Hermann Nitsch are being shown together for the first time in an exhibition in Baden near Vienna, ORF reported. The show at the Arnulf Rainer Museum brings together around 120 works by the two influential figures in Austrian post-war art.

Rather than presenting the works chronologically, curators Nikolaus Kratzer and art collector Helmut Zambo have arranged them around shared themes. The exhibition explores both the artists’ connections and their different approaches to art.

A comparison of an early study of proportions by Rainer from the 1950s and a colour scale by Nitsch from 2018 highlights those differences. Both works use geometric structures, shapes and colours, but Rainer focused on proportions and the arrangement of colour fields, while Nitsch sought to engage the senses and evoke feelings and associations.

The exhibition also includes Rainer’s well-known photo overpaintings and cross paintings, as well as photographs and objects from Nitsch’s six-day “Orgies Mysteries Theatre”, held in 1998 at Prinzendorf Castle in the Weinviertel. Malhemden worn by Nitsch during his actions are also on display. The show is staged in Baden’s former women’s bathhouse, where former bathing cabins have been incorporated into the exhibition.

Rainer, who lived from 1929 to 2025, and Nitsch, who lived from 1938 to 2022, had very different personalities, Zambo said. He described Rainer as a painter and Nitsch as a conceptual artist, whose theatre went far beyond painting.

Zambo bought his first work by Rainer in 1960 and built a collection spanning decades. In 2024, he donated its core to the State Collections of Lower Austria, including around 300 works by Rainer and significant works by Nitsch, Günter Brus and artists associated with Art Brut. He said he wanted the collection to remain together.