Galerie Miethke

Galerie Miethke was Vienna's most important private art gallery from 1861 into the 1930s and a focal point of Austrian modernism. Under Carl Moll, who took over the artistic direction in 1904, Miethke exhibited Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, van Gogh, Gauguin and Munch, often years before state museums caught up. The gallery was tightly interwoven with the Vienna Secession and helped shape the international reputation of Viennese modernism. In 1938 Nazi Aryanisation of the Jewish-run business forced its dissolution; much of the stock was lost or looted. The Dorotheergasse 11 address still exists as a commercial building; little is visible on site, but Miethke's impact lives on in the holdings of the Belvedere and the Leopold Museum.