The “Gestures of Flowers—Floral Masterpieces through Centuries from the Belvedere in Vienna” exhibition will open on October 1 at District A of Chengdu Art Museum. The exhibition will feature 60 genuine floral works by 35 renowned masters from across more than 200 years.

 

The Belvedere Museum is one of Europe’s most magnificent Baroque architectural complexes and is home to the world’s largest collection of works by Gustav Klimt. The museum rarely lends its collection and exercises great care over every overseas transfer.

 

 

For the first time, the Belvedere Museum is sending a large-scale collection overseas as a complete themed exhibition, bringing together 60 masterpieces by 35 renowned artists from across 200 years.

 

 

2026 marks the 55th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between China and Austria, and the exhibition stands as an important cultural exchange project between the two countries. Chengdu is the final stop of the exhibition’s tour. The artworks will return to Vienna afterward, and there will be no second chance if missed.

 

 

Using flowers as its central theme, the exhibition brings together representative works from five major artistic movements—Baroque, Romanticism, Impressionism, the Secession, and Modernism—systematically tracing the evolution of Austrian floral painting from the 18th century to the early 20th century. The works span a range of genres, including still life, portraiture, and landscape.

 

The Belvedere Museum has curated works by three leading Austrian artists for the exhibition.

 

Gustav Klimt is a national-treasure artist of Austria and a leading figure of the Secession. His iconic masterpiece The Kiss is renowned worldwide, but the Klimt work coming to Chengdu this time is a very different one—After the Rain (1898), which depicts the tranquil and atmospheric scene of a rain-soaked garden in delicate, fragmented brushstrokes. It is a highly distinctive work in Klimt’s artistic career. According to the Belvedere Museum, the painting will not be lent overseas again for the next ten years.

 

 

Egon Schiele is a leading Austrian Expressionist painter. The exhibited Sunflowers I (1911), unlike Van Gogh’s blazing Sunflowers, conveys the stubborn vitality of sunflowers that have withered yet refuse to fall.

 

 

Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller is an important Austrian painter of the Biedermeier period in the 19th century. His Still Life with Fruit, Flowers, and a Silver Cup (1839), through precise rendering of light, shadow, and texture, reflects his profound appreciation for the beauty of everyday life.

 

 

Dates: October 1, 2026 to February 21, 2027

Venue: Exhibition Hall A1 to A3, District A, Chengdu Art Museum

Admission: The exhibition requires paid admission. Full-rate tickets are RMB 69 per person; student tickets are RMB 34.5 per person.

Early bird tickets available through September 30: Adult early bird tickets are RMB 49 per person; student early bird tickets are RMB 30 per person. Tickets are valid throughout the exhibition period.

Tickets are available through the WeChat Mini Program of 成都市美术馆特展 (“Chengdu Art Museum Special Exhibitions”).

 

Edited by Zhang Yuanlin

Source: Home in Chengdu