Furniture

One of the focuses of the art collection is the lifestyle of Vienna’s bourgeoisie. The extensive collection of furniture, together with paintings of interiors, designs for interior decoration, furniture drawings and catalogs, and pieces of applied art with an everyday purpose, document the living spaces of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. The most important parts of the furniture collection include carpentry work from the Biedermeier and historicist periods, industrially produced bentwood furniture from the company Thonet and its Viennese competitors, and a selection of works from the first half of the 20^th century. The collection includes both individual furniture items as well as furniture sets, some of which belonged to Viennese artists such as Rudolf von Alt, Friedrich von Amerling, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Carl Moll, or Ludwig Speidel.

The collection also contains four period rooms. The apartment of the Austrian playwright Franz Grillparzer from 1849 was one of the first objects in the history of the museum.

It was the acquisition of the latter in 1878 by the City of Vienna that also led to the establishment of the furniture collection. Dating from around 1800, the Pompeian salon from the Palais Caprara-Geymüller is an example of exquisite furnishings from the early aspiring middle class. An "Arabic room" from 1902 bears witness to the reception of oriental art and culture from the 1870s. And one of the focal points of the collection is the living room and the room with a fireplace from Adolf Loos's own apartment, which dates back to 1903.

The history of 20^th century Viennese furniture is principally documented in the collection through designs from architects such as Otto Wagner, Otto Schönthal, Josef Frank, Oswald Haerdtl, Franz Hagenauer, and Karl Schwanzer.