VIENNA.- The ALBERTINA has taken a major step in its digital transformation with the launch of the world’s first online catalogue raisonné of Gustav Klimt’s drawings, making a vast body of the artist’s work more accessible to researchers, collectors, and the wider public.

The museum announced that the first section of the Klimt catalogue is now available online, alongside new digital catalogues raisonnés dedicated to Florentina Pakosta and Max Weiler. Together, the projects form part of the ALBERTINA’s broader effort to bring its collections, research, and archival knowledge into a more open and interconnected digital environment.

For Klimt scholars, the launch is especially significant. The ALBERTINA holds around 200 drawings by the Austrian master, as well as a Gustav Klimt archive, and has been a central institution for research into his works on paper for decades. The new online catalogue begins with approximately 1,800 works from Klimt’s creative years up to and including 1903. It will continue to grow in stages, eventually moving toward a catalogue of around 5,000 works.

A new digital home for Klimt’s drawings

The project responds to a long-standing wish among researchers: to have Gustav Klimt’s drawings gathered in one accessible place. Until now, the study of these works has depended heavily on printed catalogues, archival research, exhibition histories, and the slow accumulation of new discoveries.

The new digital catalogue changes that process. It allows users to explore works through interconnected information, including provenance, exhibition history, literature, and scholarly commentary. The platform is designed not simply as a static database, but as a living research tool that can be updated as new drawings are identified and new findings emerge.

ALBERTINA General Director Ralph Gleis described the Klimt catalogue as the result of years of research and emphasized the scale of the undertaking. A catalogue raisonné of roughly 5,000 works, he noted, requires both precision and patience. He also expressed hope that the project will encourage active exchange with researchers and collectors.

Chief Curator Elisabeth Dutz said the digital format makes it possible to reveal new relationships between works, documents, owners, exhibitions, and scholarly references. By opening the first section of the catalogue free of charge, the ALBERTINA is making a major body of Klimt research available not only to specialists, but also to anyone interested in the artist’s work.

Building on decades of Klimt research

The online catalogue rests on a long scholarly tradition at the ALBERTINA. A key foundation was laid by Alice Strobl, whose curatorial work shaped Klimt studies at the museum and led to the publication of a four-volume catalogue raisonné of the artist’s drawings in the 1980s.

From the 1990s onward, Marian Bisanz-Prakken continued that research, expanding the study of the collection through exhibitions, publications, and further investigation. She was especially involved in helping establish the chronology of many drawings that had previously been largely undated.

The current digital edition, led by Elisabeth Dutz, brings that accumulated scholarship into a contemporary format. It incorporates newly discovered works and the latest state of research, while allowing the catalogue to remain open to future additions.

More than a database

The launch is part of a wider digital strategy at the ALBERTINA. The museum’s online collection currently makes around 300,000 works available worldwide, giving users access to its holdings regardless of location.

The institution has also updated its website and reorganized its internal digital infrastructure. Work that was previously handled externally is now managed by the museum’s newly created department for Collection and Art Data Software. This move gives the ALBERTINA more control over the development of future digital tools and catalogues.

The museum is also experimenting with new ways of presenting its collection online. These include playful tools such as a random generator that invites users to discover works unexpectedly, as well as special digital presentations like the “Historical Albums,” whose digitized volumes can be browsed virtually.

Florentina Pakosta’s work enters a wider digital field

Alongside the Klimt launch, the ALBERTINA has introduced the first digital catalogue raisonné of Florentina Pakosta, the Vienna-based artist born in 1933.

Pakosta is represented in the ALBERTINA collection by more than 80 works. The new online catalogue offers an initial overview of her artistic production across more than seven decades, including around 3,000 drawings, prints, and paintings.

Prepared after several years of research by Melissa Lumbroso, the catalogue is organized by thematic focus and is also conceived as a work in progress. It includes an illustrated biography and bibliography, while leaving room for future updates as research continues.

Max Weiler catalogue updated for a new era

The ALBERTINA has also brought renewed attention to its digital catalogue raisonné of works on paper by Max Weiler, one of Austria’s major artists of the 20th century.

Weiler, who lived from 1910 to 2001, produced more than 1,600 paintings and around 3,500 drawings. The ALBERTINA owns about 130 drawings and prints by the artist and also presents important works through long-term loans, including monumental drawings from the 1980s and late paintings.

The museum first published its research on Weiler’s works on paper in digital form in 2015. That completed scholarly project is now being updated to meet current technical standards, while its structure and content remain intact.

A broader digital future for art research

The ALBERTINA’s new catalogues show how museums are rethinking the role of digital access. Rather than treating online collections as simple image archives, the institution is using technology to connect artworks with research, provenance, exhibitions, literature, and scholarly debate.

Additional digital catalogues are already in development, including projects devoted to the printed graphic works of Arnulf Rainer and Alex Katz.

With the launch of the Klimt, Pakosta, and Weiler catalogues, the ALBERTINA is positioning itself not only as a museum with a major collection, but also as a digital research hub. For scholars, the platform offers a more flexible and expandable tool. For the public, it opens a new path into the work of artists whose drawings, paintings, and prints can now be explored from anywhere.