Praise for an art lover

Anyone who goes out into the Viennese gallery scene now and then and on such occasions stumbles into an opening of the “artist is present” kind here and there knows him – or has at least come across him there at some point. We are talking about Dr. Volkmar Käppl.

Dr. Käppl is probably one of the most agile and active art collectors in the country. The trophies he acquires on his forays through studios, antiquarian bookshops, galleries and museums include exhibition catalogues signed by artists as well as drawings, paintings and sculptures by younger and older artists of all artistic movements. At the centre of his acquisitions, however, there is always one thing: the quality of the works!

As one hears again and again in artists' circles, the Käppl collection is likely to be among the most interesting art collections in the country: it brings together a broad cross-section of predominantly Austrian art after 1945 in an exciting overview of high-quality works by well-known names and by numerous artists who receive less attention in the public eye (too little, as the collector says).

The portrait room of the Käppl art collection with oil portraits painted by the portrait artists: Stephan Ois, Titanilla Eisenhart, Judith Grosser and Hans Glaser

Also unique are the collecting areas that document and accompany the art scene: in addition to thousands of signed invitation cards to exhibitions, Austria's (and probably the wider region's) largest library of signed art books, with well over 12,000 volumes in total, is particularly impressive.

“For me, art is a food, indeed a means of survival”, the collector confesses.