30 May  –  31 August 2008

The patronage of industrialist Karl Wittgenstein (1847-1913) and his wider family – his elder brother, Paul and his son, Hermann, and Karl's youngest daughter, Margaret – was fundamental to the careers of Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffmann, and to the endeavours of the Secession and the Wiener Werkstätte. It was Karl Wittgenstein who, in 1898, provided essential funding for the Secession building.

Karl Wittgenstein was the son of a wealthy wool merchant of Jewish extraction who had converted early to Protestantism. After an adventurous youth Karl embarked on a career in the iron industry. By 1898 he was the driving force behind a number of mines, processing plants and factories and was later hailed by the London Times as the 'Carnegie of Austria'. As a patron he was daring and imaginative. His collection of fine art included sculpture by Auguste Rodin and Max Klinger, and paintings by Giovanni Segantini and, above all, Gustav Klimt. Klimt works acquired or commissioned by the Wittgensteins embraced his output as portraitist, allegorist and landscapist.

The Wittgensteins' patronage also encouraged the evolution of Josef Hoffmann's architectural and design styles – from his early interest in the British Arts and Crafts Movement, through his use of simplified geometrical forms and bold contrast, to the refined combination of opulent colour and luxurious materials. In 1904 Hoffmann collaborated with Koloman Moser on the interior of the Berlin apartment of Jerome and Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein. They collaborated again in 1906 on the Viennese apartment of Hermann Wittgenstein. Moser's suite of austere furniture for the guest room is presented here.