The Arnulf Rainer Museum

From bathing room to exhibition hall

The historic Frauenbad in Baden bei Wien, which has housed the Arnulf Rainer Museum since 2009, boasts an interesting and colourful history.

A sulphuric spring bubbles beneath the High Altar of the Church of Our Lady, which is erected in the 13th century, supplying 2 bathing houses on the north and south sides of the Church: the Neubad (New Baths) and Frauenbad (Lady Baths).

The Church of Our Lady was secularised under Joseph II and cut off in 1810. Plans for integrating the springs here into a new imperial bathing residence, which would extend from the modern Church of Our Lady to Josephsplatz and Breyerstraße, fall by the wayside because of a lack of funds. Emperor Francis I, who spends his summer holidays in Baden nearly every year, orders the immediate reconstruction of the Frauenbad. But this is delayed.

It is not until 1821 that the French star architect Charles de Moreau is brought in to construct a Neoclassical building with columned façade together with Baden’s town architect Anton Hantl. Inside it are various bathing halls lined with costly marble to attract fashionable spa guests.

When Baden acquires new spa and bathing facilities at the beginning of the 1970s, operations are halted in the Frauenbad. The bathing house is adapted as necessary and used as a national exhibition centre - the opening exhibition in the autumn of 1977 is a retrospective of Arnulf Rainer.

But soon the building can no longer meet the demands of a modern exhibition establishment and it undergoes a complete overhaul in the mid-90s.

In 2006 it is decided to dedicate the exhibition centre entirely to the internationally-renowned, Baden-born artist Arnulf Rainer. And to thoroughly renovate the building once more.

The adaptations and additions from the 20th century are revised at this time and the original Neoclassical spatial structure restored. The historic atmosphere is accentuated by elegant furnishings and spatial technology, while a new hallmark exhibit, the case of a historic lantern fitting, is placed on the outside with 2 offset, perforated plates.

The municipality, in cooperation with Lower Austria, dedicates the establishment - where a multifaceted body of work is presented in exquisite monographic as well as thematic exhibitions - to the artist born in Baden in 1929. In this way Arnulf Rainer’s work, which plays a central role in the collections of the world’s largest museums, can be presented directly to a regional as well as to an international audience by use of exhibitions, events and publications.

Arnulf Rainer’s importance in the history of art cannot be denied. His ‘overpaintings’ developed in the 50s make him known well beyond the borders of his own country and famous among his international contemporaries. His intensive search for new ways of painting and constant development of new artistic strategies, accompanied by performance works and extensive writings, make Arnulf Rainer one of the most influential artists alive today.

Image: Exterior view of the Arnulf Rainer Museum Photo by Rainer Mirau © Rainer Mirau, Baden Town Collections, Arnulf Rainer Museum