Arnulf Rainer

Arnulf Rainer is among the most significant artists of the present day. One of his most important sources of inspiration was Art Brut, which he became aware of during the postwar period through his exploration of Surrealism.

The term Art Brut (“raw art”) was coined in 1945 by Jean Dubuffet (1901–1985), who used it to refer to art outside of established norms, such as art produced by children or people with mental illnesses. “Raw” or “brut” in this context indicates art untouched by cultural influences.

In addition to Surrealism, it was the discovery of the artists at Gugging Psychiatric Hospital that fueled Rainer’s interest in Art Brut. Through the 1965 book Schizophrenie und Kunst (Schizophrenia and art) by Leo Navratil, the founder of the Gugging Center for Art-Psychotherapy, Rainer came into contact with the artists there. This encounter developed into a long-term involvement with these artists and their art—in Rainer’s collecting activity as well as in his artistic work.

In the 1970s, for example, he created his well-known Art Brut homages, in which he overpainted pictures by artists such as Johann Hauser, Jean Dubuffet, and Friedrich Schröder-Sonnenstern—not to alter them but in order to enter into an artistic dialogue with them. Rainer collaborated directly with other artists in 1984 in three drawings: two with Fritz Koller and one with Johann Hauser. This was followed in 1994 by an extensive project including fifty-eight overpaintings, created together with eight Gugging artists.

The present exhibition shows works by Arnulf Rainer, Johann Garber, Johann Hauser, Margarethe Held, Rudolf Horacek, Fritz Koller, Hans Krüsi, Rudolf Liemberger, Friedrich Schröder-Sonnenstern, Volkmar Schulz-Rumpold, Sava Sekulić, Oswald Tschirtner, August Walla, and Adolf Wölfli, as well as works created by Rainer together with Koller and Hauser.

In addition to the Zambo Collection, which constitutes the focal point of the exhibition, and private loans, this show for the first time features a large group of works from the Navratil Collection, which Leo Navratil presented to the State Collections of Lower Austrian in the form of a premortal bequest.

Exhibition duration:
October 18, 2025 – October 4, 2026

Curators:
Nikolaus Kratzer, Head of the Art Collection of the State of Lower Austria, and art collector Helmut Zambo.

The exhibition is curated by Nikolaus Kratzer, Director of the Art Collection of the State of Lower Austria, and art collector Helmut Zambo. 

Nikolaus Kratzer on the exhibition: “Arnulf Rainer was one of the discoverers and first collectors of art from Gugging. This exhibition is dedicated to his lifelong engagement with Art Brut. Both Rainer’s works and those of other Art Brut artists are distinguished by a very special form of immediacy of expression.”

Helmut Zambo on his first encounter with Art Brut: “My enthusiasm for Art Brut was sparked by a visit to Arnulf Rainer’s studio in the mid-1960s. There, I came into contact with the art from Gugging for the first time and was immediately captivated! I hope that visitors to this exhibition will have a similar experience—that they will be touched and delighted by the paintings. May their encounter with these artworks open their eyes and sensitize them to their unique beauty and expressiveness.”

Arnulf Rainer & Art Brut
With essays by Nikolaus Kratzer on Rainer’s work and Art Brut, an article by Arnulf Rainer on the artist Johann Hauser, information on the artists featured in the exhibition, and an extensive picture section with over 100 works.

Edited by Helmut Zambo and Nikolaus Kratzer
Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König, Cologne
In German and English, 192 pages
Price: € 29.90
Available at the Museum Shop

In keeping with the current exhibition Arnulf Rainer & Art Brut, we would like to offer you an exclusive ticket promotion: With a museum gugging ticket you receive a 50% discount on admission to the Arnulf Rainer Museum - and vice versa.

Take advantage of this offer to discover two extraordinary institutions in the Lower Austrian cultural landscape and learn more about the world of Art Brut.

Valid from October 18, 2025 to October 4, 2026.

The artist's multifaceted oeuvre has been presented in numerous exhibitions since the opening of the Arnulf Rainer Museum in autumn 2009. In addition to monographic exhibitions, Rainer's significance for contemporary art is also explored through juxtapositions with artists such as Georg Baselitz, Mario Merz, and Damien Hirst.