Vienna Academy of Fine Arts on Day Five
Day five in Vienna was a free day. I was on my own, and Therese and Faith were on their own. I decided that after breakfast in the executive dining room in the hotel, I would have a quiet morning. Then I would walk a few blocks to Yamm! Restaurant to have a vegetarian lunch, and then take the tram to the Academy of Fine Arts to see its Paintings Gallery.
Yamm is mainly a buffet, with hot food on one side and cold offerings on the other side. Like the menus we had seen thus far, there was the usual letter system to alert me of any dairy or other allergens, and on top of that, Yamm uses a color scheme – those dishes made without milk products had an orange tab next to their name.
I piled my plate high with a variety of dishes, sure that I was going to have an enjoyable life. The only confusing wrinkle was how to pay for my food. I finally found a server who spoke English who explained to me that there is a computer station with a scale in front of it, and what you do is put your plate on the scale, grab a plastic “Yamm” card, swipe the card in front of the computer screen, and follow the prompts. OK, it wasn’t that hard.
My favorite was a potato goulash, a warm dish that rivaled the meat goulashes I ate earlier in the week for richness and depth of flavor in the sauce.
There was a side counter filled with vegan desserts. For those, I consulted a server, who asked me what I want, and then piled my desserts in a take away box and printed out a separate bill for that. I got an apple strudel and a chocolate muffin (oh, how I love vegan baked goods!).
With my goodies in hand, and feeling very satisfied from my vegetarian meal, I took the tram a few stops, and walked a couple of blocks, to the Academy of Fine Arts.
The Academy is not an art museum really – as the name suggests, it is an art school. But being in Vienna, its Paintings Gallery, while modest, has some really incredible paintings in it. For example, the painting that appears on a lot of the literature about the gallery (you can see it on the banner in front of Academy above) is an incredible self-portrait by the Flemish artist Anthony van Dyk painted when he was only 14 years old!
Before you even get to the Paintings Gallery, though, the building is already plenty impressive. Just inside the front door is the central hall with its marvelous ceiling mural that was featured recently in the movie Woman in Gold (the reparations symposium at the beginning of the film was filmed in this room). Then the hallways you walk through to get to the gallery are lovely, with a decorated vaulted ceiling.
One of my other favorite paintings in the gallery is Sandro Botticelli‘s Madonna and Child with Two Angels. Its sense of light and elegance is a nice contrast to the richness of the many Flemish paintings in the gallery (another Rubens, oh my).
At the end of the series of rooms is a splendid triptych, Hieronymus Bosch‘s Last Judgment. Bosch is one of those artists that certain art nerds like me really treasure. I know some people find his horrific imagery disturbing – I find a good deal of humor in the bizarre creatures Bosch created. If he were around today, we would probably think he had experience with hallucinogenic drugs I bet – I don’t know if there was anything like that around in his day, so I guess we will just have to believe that he had the most incredible imagination ever.
Hieronymus Bosch’s Last Judgement in Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
One of the nice things about the gallery is that, lo and behold, it was nicely air conditioned. Considering this was once again a blisteringly hot day, I was happy for the comfort of the gallery. Ninety minutes relaxation and culture was just about right. My plans for the rest of the day were not that well-formed, but I left the Academy behind sure that I could figure something out. Or not. Either way, Vienna has so much going on that I would not be bored.
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