"Munch"-ing on Halloween

If I had to design the perfect way to spend a Halloween afternoon, it would have to be exactly the Halloween I just had in Vienna.

I went back to Vienna to visit H, as it had been some time since we'd seen each other. We had no plans, except to hit up the international food market again for some brilliant Lebanese bread and hummus.

As we meandered down the long avenues we ran into Leopold Museum. A huge banner hung on the museum inviting us to come in and visit their exhibition: "Edvard Munch and the Uncanny". It sounded intriging. H had heard a piece on the radio praising the exhibition, and years ago when I was in Oslo, Norway, I'd wanted to go to the Munch Museum but it had been closed due to the daylight theft of "The Scream". So, it seemed an opportunity we couldn't pass up.




Leopold Museum is 5 floors of exquisite art. H and I started on the top floor and wondered through collections of Impressionism, Expressionism and art nouveau. We got lost in the world of artist Albin Egger-Lienz, with scenes of mountains and agriculture and rural life. And we discovered that Egon Schiele had spent significant amounts of time in the Czech Republic. Armed with this knowledge, we were able to pick out buildings we knew by heart in his patchwork quilt images of quaint towns.

The Munch collection was located on the subterranean floor. The lighting was dimmed and the paintings were hung on dark blue walls. The emotional turmoil of his subjects, the twisted images and mood lighting all contributed more to an aura of haunted house than world renowned museum. If someone had said "Boo!", I'm sure half the people in the exhibition would have jumped. In fact, the museum was giving special Halloween tours around midnight to brave patrons who thought their nerves could handle Munch on Halloween at midnight.

We didn't stick around to find out if "The Scream" would live up to its name.


www.leopoldmuseum.org/index_en.html