The Collections

This writing desk was a gift to Maria Theresa from her son Ferdinand Karl, who was governor of the Duchy of Milan. Positioned stylistically between the Rococo and neoclassicism, it was made by the Lombard cabinet-maker Giuseppe Maggiolini. He was renowned for his elaborate marquetry work using a wide variety of timbers.

Marie Antoinette, Maria Theresa’s youngest daughter and wife of the French king Louis XVI, cultivated a markedly luxurious lifestyle. One of the cabinet-makers she commissioned to make furniture was Adam Weisweiler, who created this graceful secretaire decorated with ormolu mounts and medallions of biscuit porcelain.

This chair was used by Elisabeth Christine, wife of Emperor Charles VI. Subjected to extreme dietary regimes to promote fertility, she became increasingly obese and immobile. Despite these measures, she failed to produce a male heir. The male line of the Habsburgs having died out with Charles VI, in 1740 his elder daughter Maria Theresa succeeded him as ruler over the Habsburg lands.

The bedroom of Emperor Franz II (I) and his fourth wife, Karoline Augusta, was furnished in the Empire style. The fabrics (here reconstructed) in tones of green harmonize perfectly with the mahogany veneers and the gilt mounts on the furniture, the gold braid and fringing, and the gilded chandeliers.

With the world’s largest holdings of Biedermeier furniture, the Vienna Furniture Museum presents both individual pieces and complete ensembles. These convey an instructive picture of typical Biedermeier interiors. Initially these ‘Biedermeier Period Room’ were intended first and foremost as objects of study for designers as well as a source of models for ordinary furniture-makers.

This throne served Emperor Franz Joseph as a piece of ceremonial furniture. Carved in Historicist style, its gilt frame and upholstery of gold brocade imbue it with a grandeur in keeping with its function. A throne had to be accorded the same obeisance as the ruler himself. Even when the throne was not occupied, one was not permitted to turn one’s back on it.

Constructed of bentwood and plywood, this armchair with adjustable backrest has gone down in design history as the ‘machine for sitting’. It was developed by the architect Josef Hoffmann, a major representative of the Vienna Modern movement around 1900, in collaboration with J. & J. Kohn & Co., Thonet’s most important competitors, who developed innovative bentwood furniture designs.

With his Post Office Savings Bank on Stubenring Otto Wagner created a pioneering icon of 20th-century architecture, the interior of which was designed on purely functional lines. He made also use of the ultra-modern material of aluminium. Wagner designed all of the furniture, of which large quantities were required, in bentwood technique. It was made by the companies of Thonet and Kohn.

The futuristic Galaxy armchair made of riveted, partially perforated sheet aluminium was designed by the sculptor Walter Pichler. Recalling lightweight aircraft construction, the chair is an example of the international space-age design inspired by the space travel of the 1960s, as reflected in the choice of its name.

Experimental furniture design based on resource-conserving production processes, dreamed up by designer duo Mischer‘Traxler: powered by solar electricity, a machine winds cotton thread soaked in dye and glue to form a tubular seating object, making its construction visible, like the growth rings of a tree. The result also varies according to the intensity of the light and length of the day.