The Vienna Museum of Art History's collection is the best place to see and to understand what distinguishes a brilliant artist from the wonderful and the good from the mediocre. If you want not only to walk through the museum and enjoy the works of Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer, Raphael and Caravaggio but also aspire to understand what distinguishes their works from those of their less famous contemporaries, this tour is for you.

This tour is not about making you an art historian or listing artists’ workshop connections. This is a narrative participatory experience offering you a new perspective on art and making museum pieces meaningful to you.

These highlights await you:

• In Peter Bruegel's largest world collection, you will take a closer look at The Hunters in the Snow to understand why it was in the 20th century that this painting became the “cold distant peak of unattainable art“, and why it was a huge risk to choose such a controversial subject in the 16th century
• You will look at the requirements for Rubens' work and see the difference between works made for his powerful commissioners and those created for his own pleasure
• Vermeer's work The Allegory of The Art and Caravaggio's Madonna with the Beads will show you the most virtuoso showcase of mimesis, the main principle of Western aesthetics. And Parmigianino's works on the contrary will show you the first attempts of art to escape from the path of perfect vitality