If you are planning a trip to Vienna in autumn or winter, we recommend visiting the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, where the exhibition The Five Senses, featuring works by Michaelina Wautier, is being shown.
The exhibition is a must for anyone who wants to discover Vienna's rich cultural scene from a new perspective. Here you don't just meet aFascinating artist with an enigmatic life. But also a story of female creativity and resilience in a time when few women were allowed to create on their own terms.
Michaelina Wautier (1613–1689) was a Flemish artist who is now being rediscovered. She worked at a time when female artists were rarely given prominence. While most women confined themselves to small-scale still lifes or domestic scenes, Wautier painted Monumental historical paintings – an area otherwise dominated by men like Rubens and Van Dyck. Her work is characterised by strength, boldness and subtle humour, and she seriously challenged the aesthetic and social norms of the 17th-century art world.
Many of her paintings were previously attributed to other artists, often men – which makes the rediscovery of her work even more fascinating. Today she is regarded as a pioneer and an innovative voice in Baroque painting.
The exhibition is historic in itself as it shows nAlmost all of the surviving works by Michaelina Wautier gathered in one place. Thanks to Archduke Leopold William's extensive art collection, which forms the core of the museum's baroque department today, there is the world's largest collection of Wautier's paintings. A unique cultural heritage that is now receiving the attention it deserves.
Don't miss it: The museum's lovely café under the magnificent dome!
Michaelina Wautier
Exhibition: The Five Senses
The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna
30 September to 22 February 2026
Book a ticket: HERE!
