Once used as the Habsburgs' imperial apartments for guests, the Albertina is now a repository for an exceptional collection of graphic art. The permanent Batliner Collection – with over 100 paintings covering the period from Monet to Picasso – and the high quality of changing exhibitions make the Albertina highly worthwhile.
Multilingual audio guides (€4) cover all exhibition sections and tell the story behind the apartments and the works on display.
French impressionism and post-impressionism, as well as the works of the Swiss Alberto Giacometti, were the original focus of the Batliner Collection, but over time husband and wife benefactors Herbert and Rita Batliner added a substantial number of Russian avant-garde works to create a who’s who of 20th-century and contemporary art: Monet, Picasso, Degas, Cézanne, Klimt, Matisse, Chagall, Nolde, Jawlensky and many more.
Tickets (but not the audio guides) are valid for the whole day, so you can nip out for lunch and return later to finish off a visit.
A branch of the Österreichisches Filmmuseum is located here.