Page 18 - Studio International - September 1965

The Museum of the 20th Century in Vienna

by Werner Hofmann, its Director Translated from the German by Ilse Schrier

View from the garden of the
Museum of the 20th Century in
Vienna showing left to right
foreground Sculptures by Pillhofer.
Henry Moore. Germaine Rich,er.
Behind can be seen sculptures by
Bill. Chill1da, Marini. Wotruba
and Armitage. 1964
When. at the time of the Brussels World Exhibition, the
idea arose to bring the Austrian Pavilion back to
Vienna, and to use it as an art gallery (although it had
not originally been intended for this purpose) a quick
decision had to be made. Here at last the concrete
possibility presented itself of realising an idea which
had been conceived by Otto Wagner as early as 1899-
a 'Gallery of Art of Our Time'. The problems connected
with this rededication are best explained by the
architect. I quote some of the most important passages
from a report by Prof. Karl Schwanzer which appeared
in Der Aufbau (No. 2, 1963):
'The fact alone that this is to be a museum for works of
art of "one" century, gave rise to the idea of creating a
so-called "open-plan" museum, for which the structural
arrangement of the Brussels Exhibition building-an
edifice supported by four columns-was ideally suited.
The Brussels Pavilion was a square cubic building,
designed in blocks of 2 x 2 metres. In the centre was a
courtyard with 8 x 8 such units. In the corners of this
interior square which had been left open as a court-
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