State staircase on the Volksgarten side

The Hofburgtheater, finally inaugurated in October 1888 after a prolonged construction period, marked the completion of the mammoth Ringstraße building project. The highlights of the theatre’s artistic decoration are the panels from 1886-87 painted on the ceilings of two state staircases, one on the Landtmann side and the other on the Volksgarten side in the main building of the Burgtheater. The main panels, which are spread out along the central axis of the ceiling, have theatre history as their subject. They are early works by brothers Gustav and Ernst Klimt and by Franz Matsch.

In terms of prestige, the commission was practically without parallel at the time: the work had been commissioned by the Emperor himself. The theatre, a meeting place for the upper reaches of society, was also an institution bathed in the limelight of public attention. It is therefore not surprising that the work made the young artists known to a wider public almost overnight. It was their first significant state commission and a turning point in their careers.