Erwin Hauser donates his collection of 2,900 works to Lentos in Linz

Lentos director Hemma Dirt and her team were happy about what was probably their best Christmas present: since yesterday, the collection of the Linz Art Museum on the Donaulände has been enriched by 2,900 works by 700 artists worth 16.5 million euros. The Linz entrepreneur Erwin Hauser left his private collection to the museum as a permanent loan during his lifetime, which will later be donated.

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Quantum leap for collection

“This is the largest expansion since the museum was founded by the ‘Wolfgang Gurlitt Collection’ in 1953 and a quantum leap for our collection,” said Fremd, bowing to the generous donor, whose collection includes treasures of Austrian art from the 19th to the 21st century. Century – among them works by well-known names such as Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Christian Ludwig Attersee, Ernst Fuchs, VALIE EXPORT, Anna Jermolaewa, Gottfried Helnwein, Alfred Hrdlicka, Anton Kolig, to name just a few. Dirt: “The collection fits ours perfectly. This diversity and quality of the works enable us to create new narrative connections in our exhibitions.”

“I hope that Lentos has a lot of fun with it,” says the passionate collector. Erwin Hauser discovered his passion for art as a student.

However, his career path has taken the Linzer, who is now 82 years old, in a completely different direction: in 1981, the HTL graduate took over the management of the family business that specializes in commercial refrigeration technology. For the time being, the “Erwin Hauser Collection” will remain in Hauser’s depot in Pasching, which the city of Linz has rented. In 2025 it will be presented to visitors in the Lentos Art Museum in a comprehensive exhibition curated by Elisabeth Nowak-Thaller. A publication is also planned. The collection of the Lentos Art Museum has so far included 15,000 graphics, 1,800 paintings and sculptures. Milestones were the purchase of the VALIE EXPORT estate (2015) and the “Archive Günter Zamp-Kelp” (2020). And now the “Erwin Hauser Collection”.