Ernst Fuchs Museum

Otto Wagner erected the beautiful white mansion surrounded by nature for himself and his adored wife Louise between 1886 and 1888. The home was rebuilt and offered to the public by painter Ernst Fuchs (1930-2015), a renowned representative of Vienna’s Phantastic Realists.

The spectacular home was created towards the end of the nineteenth century as the Wagner family’s vacation retreat. The Art Nouveau jewel’s popularity expanded well beyond the city borders, thanks to its legendary summer celebrations and salons. Because the greats of their era came and went: in addition to greeting Gustav Klimt, Adolf Loos, and Gustav Mahler, the Wagner Villa was a gathering point for excellent Viennese creative society. The mansion is rooted in Historicism and was designed to honor Wagner’s favorite Italian architect, Palladio.

Otto Wagner’s villa, on the other hand, fell quiet for many years. After being expropriated by the National Socialists, the previously majestic edifice faded into obscurity before succumbing to several speculative transactions that nearly brought it down.

Ernst Fuchs eventually provided a breath of fresh air and some amazing ideas to Hüttelbergstrasse 26 in the early 1970s. And did it literally, for the artist, who had dedicated himself to weird realism, spent two years renovating and rebuilding the home, partially in accordance with the original, partly according to his own ideas.

His paintings, sculptures, and furniture are on display throughout the building. Next to it, at Hüttelbergstrasse 28, is a second villa by Otto Wagner from 1912-13, which is considerably more basic and has a lot more contemporary design.