Discovering Truth In Nature At The National Gallery’s Exhibition Of Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller’s Landscapes

On The Table Read Magazine, “the best arts and entertainment magazine UK“, The National Gallery is proud to present the first ever UK exhibition of landscapes by the celebrated Austrian artist Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller (1793–1865) — a free summer highlight celebrating his breathtakingly precise and luminous depictions of nature.

In summer 2026, the National Gallery in London will present a groundbreaking exhibition: Waldmüller: Landscapes (2 July – 20 September 2026). Housed in the intimate H J Hyams Room (Room 1), this show marks the first ever UK exhibition dedicated to the Austrian 19th-century artist Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller (1793–1865). It is also the first exhibition anywhere devoted solely to his work as a landscapist. Admission is free.

The exhibition is a collaboration between the National Gallery and the Belvedere Museum in Vienna, which is lending the majority of the works. It brings together around 13 paintings, mostly from the Belvedere, with additional loans from the Liechtenstein Collection and the Vienna Museum.

Waldmüller: A Pillar of Austrian Biedermeier Art

Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller ranks among the most important figures in Austrian 19th-century art. He excelled not only as a painter but also as an influential teacher at the Vienna Academy. His oeuvre encompasses portraits, genre scenes, still lifes (especially flowers and fruit), and landscapes — all unified by an uncompromising commitment to truth and precise observation of nature.

Waldmüller was a leading artist of the Biedermeier period, which stretched roughly from the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to the revolutions of 1848. This era saw the rise of a prosperous urban middle class that shaped cultural life, favouring art that celebrated private domesticity, order, and intimate views of everyday existence. While often associated with Biedermeier’s cosy realism, Waldmüller’s work can also be unflinchingly honest and occasionally moralising.

Co-curator Sarah Herring, Associate Curator of Post-1800 Paintings at the National Gallery, notes: “While Waldmüller is considered a Biedermeier artist his work, along with other artists of the period, can be both moralising and unflinchingly honest.”

From Academic Training to Mastery of Landscape

Waldmüller enrolled at the Vienna Academy in 1807 and received a traditional academic education, including drawing after antique sculptures. He largely taught himself landscape painting by copying 17th-century Dutch masters, especially Jacob van Ruisdael and Meindert Hobbema. From the 1820s onward, landscape became increasingly central to his practice.

His style is marked by extraordinary attention to detail, almost photographic clarity, and an equal emphasis on every element in the scene — from foreground leaves to distant mountains. This approach has often been compared to the British Pre-Raphaelites, though Waldmüller developed it independently, driven by his desire to capture the unvarnished truth of nature.

In 1856 he visited London, exhibiting 34 works that sold at auction after a private audience with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, both of whom purchased a painting. While there, he would have encountered Pre-Raphaelite works, but his technique had already matured on its own terms.

The Exhibition: A Journey Through Waldmüller’s Landscapes

The show opens with Waldmüller’s Self-Portrait of 1828, one of his earliest portraits set within a landscape — here, the Vienna Woods. This personal introduction sets the tone for an artist who placed himself directly in dialogue with nature.

In the 1830s, Waldmüller made detailed studies in the Prater, Vienna’s great natural park. The exhibition includes the remarkable Large Prater Landscape (1849), showcasing his ability to render groups of trees and individual specimens with breathtaking precision.

A major section is devoted to the Salzkammergut, the Alpine region near Salzburg. Here, viewers encounter paintings of trees, lakes, and mountains executed with limpid light, intense colours, and almost invariably bright blue skies — evoking a sense of crystalline clarity and serene grandeur.

Another highlight explores Waldmüller’s three autumn visits to Sicily between 1844 and 1846. The island’s dramatic light, rugged terrain, and Classical ruins left a profound mark on his art, infusing his landscapes with a new sense of Mediterranean luminosity and historical depth.

The final section focuses on his later works, influenced by further travels in Italy. The exhibition closes with the poignant Early Spring in the Vienna Woods (1861, Belvedere, Vienna). In this painting, a group of children gathers violets amid the awakening forest. It illustrates Waldmüller’s shift toward incorporating larger-scale figures or groups into his landscapes, blending human presence more intimately with the natural world.

A Rare Opportunity to Rediscover a Master

Waldmüller: Landscapes is curated by Sarah Herring and Dr Arnika Groenewald-Schmidt, Curator of the 19th-Century Collection at the Belvedere, Vienna. Organised by the National Gallery in cooperation with the Belvedere, it forms part of the H J Hyams Exhibition Programme and is supported by The Capricorn Foundation.

For those unfamiliar with Waldmüller, this small but focused exhibition offers a perfect introduction to an artist whose “photographic” realism and dedication to nature feel remarkably modern. His landscapes invite viewers to slow down, observe closely, and appreciate the quiet beauty of the everyday world — from Vienna’s woodlands to Sicily’s sun-drenched shores.

The National Gallery, home to one of the world’s finest collections of Western European painting from the late 13th to the early 20th century, continues its tradition of bringing lesser-known masters to new audiences. This free exhibition in the heart of London promises to be a highlight of the 2026 summer season for anyone who values precision, light, and the honest depiction of nature.

Mark your calendars: 2 July to 20 September 2026. Admission free in Room 1.

Find more from The National Gallery now:

More information at nationalgallery.org.uk 

Instagram @nationalgallery 

Facebook @thenationalgallery

YouTube The National Gallery

TikTok @nationalgallerylondon 

Threads @nationalgallery

X (formerly Twitter) @nationalgallery