Kaiserschild Art Defined

The project centers on high-resolution multiperspective images - created in collaboration with high-caliber institutions and creatives. The technique reveals extremely detailed structures in the paintings to the viewer when the image is enlarged; it thus gives us profound insights into the paintings’ styles and compositions and enables us to engage with art in a new way.

Kaiserschild Art Defined commences with an exhibition dedicated to the still lifes of Pieter Claesz, one of the artists at the heart of the Kaiserschild Foundation’s art collection, who was among the seventeenth century’s foremost still life painters and had a decisive influence on the genre.

We worked with the Alte Galerie of the Universalmuseum Joanneum, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and the Kunst Museum Winterthur to produce high-resolution digitizations of three works by Pieter Claesz, which now appear, alongside the original paintings, in a traveling exhibition titled Pieter Claesz: Still Life. An interactive installation enables visitors to explore the high-resolution multiperspective images for themselves and compare them directly with the originals. The digital copies also served as the basis for short films whose intense images engage closely and impressively with aspects of Pieter Claesz's work.

The exhibition will be on display in Cabinet 19 at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna from June 17, 2025 to March 15, 2026. It will then travel to the Alte Galerie of the Universalmuseum Joanneum in Graz and the Kunst Museum Winterthur.

The digitized works can also be seen in the Ars Electronica Deep Space 8K. A 50 million pixel resolution on a 16 by 9 meter wall makes the Deep Space one of the most interesting digital experience spaces in the world, offering a very special view on Pieter Claesz's still lifes. The next event will take place on June 12.

To kick off the Pieter Claesz exhibitions, contemporary artists will be exploring Claesz as part of Kaiserschild Art Defined. Street artists Jana&JS reinterpret “Still Life with Glass Goblet” from the Foundation's collection as an asphalt art design in front of Neues Rathaus in Linz.

12/06/2025 | Pieter Claesz: Still Lifes in the Ars Electronica Deep Space

17/06/2025-15/03/2026 | Exhibition Pieter Claesz: Still Lifes in the Kunsthistorisches Museum

Alte Galerie des Universalmuseums Joanneum

Kunsthistorisches Museum

Kunst Museum Winterthur

Ars Electronica Futurelab

Norbert Artner

INSEQ DESIGN

Junge Römer Creative Production Studio

Here you will find the literature sources that were used for the production Pieter Claesz: Still Life in the Kaiserschild Art Defined project.