Vienna's Belvedere: A Impressionist Collection of French Artists on Tour
One of the most important private collections of French Impressionism is now on display in Austria for the first time, following exhibitions in Lausanne and Cologne. From Thursday, September 25, 2025, the Lower Belvedere will present over 60 selected masterpieces from the Swiss Langmatt Museum, the former villa of industrialist couple Jenny and Sidney Brown. The exhibition, entitled “Cézanne, Monet, Renoir – French Impressionism from the Langmatt Museum,” offers a unique insight into the couple's passion for collecting.
One of the most important private collections of French Impressionists is on display in the Lower Belvedere. / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons / C.Stadler/Bwag / CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)
The exhibition was conceived in the Lower Belvedere and the Orangery and will be on display until February 8, 2026. As Belvedere Director General Stella Rollig emphasized at a press conference, this is not a “standard touring exhibition,” as the Vienna museum had free rein in its design. The collection is also remarkable because it was created at the same time as acquisitions for the then Modern Art Gallery in Vienna.
The collectors and their villa
The Langmatt Museum in Baden near Zurich is the former villa of Sidney and Jenny Brown, built between 1899 and 1901 by architect Karl Moser. Sidney William Brown (1865-1941) was the technical director of the electrical engineering company Brown, Boveri & Cie. (BBC), co-founded by his brother, which merged with the Swedish company ASEA in 1988 to form ABB. His wife, Jenny Sulzer-Brown (1871-1968) came from the Sulzer industrial family in Winterthur.
Their passion for collecting began with works by the Munich Secessionists, but after a trip to Paris in 1908, they devoted themselves passionately to French Impressionism and acquired works by Monet, Pissarro, Gauguin, and Renoir. Pierre-Auguste Renoir in particular caught the couple's interest, which is why the Vienna exhibition places a special focus on the artist with 22 works.
Insights into the works and history
The exhibition, which is taking place during the extensive renovation of Villa Langmatt, is divided chronologically into thematic “salons.” It offers visitors intimate insights into the history of the Browns, from purchase receipts and letters to portraits of the collector couple.
Among the highlights on display is Claude Monet's painting “Ice Floes in Twilight” from 1893. Although it depicts a violent ice drift on the Seine, Monet captured a quiet moment in delicate shades of color. Also on display is Paul Cézanne's “Peaches, Carafe, and Person” from 1900, which impresses with its bright peaches on a patterned tablecloth and an almost invisible figure in the background.
The Langmatt Museum, which opened in 1990 as the Langmatt Sidney and Jenny Brown Foundation, has long been considered an insider tip. The exhibition in Vienna, which runs until spring 2026, offers a unique opportunity to experience the Browns' works in a new context before the collection returns to its renovated home.