Another name that spans both art and pop culture. The Favourite Darkness exhibition at the Kunstforum Wien pays homage to the photographer and director Anton Corbijn.
- Focus on his renowned photo portraits
- …of musicians, artists & other creatives
- Many evocative works
- One of my all-time favourite exhibitions
- Runs Feb 15 – Jun 29, 2025
- See also:
Favourite Darkness
(Miles Davis, Montreal 1985 © Anton Corbijn)
Like many with a palette of creativity few can hope to possess, Anton Corbijn has turned his hand successfully to various fields of endeavour: film and music videos, album covers, stage design, and more.
But in a 2022 interview, Corbijn described himself thus:
I’m a portrait photographer
Corbijn’s photos certainly dominate our public perception of him. Understandably so, given his camera produced some of the most resonant images of modern culture. Like the cover photos on U2’s The Joshua Tree album. Or the 1980 image of David Bowie in a loincloth.
The Favourite Darkness exhibition at the Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien offers due respect to Corbijn’s wider work but focuses on his largely black & white portraits.
Around 200 works from five decades provide a timely homage given the photographer turns 70 in 2025.
(Jodie Foster, Hollywood 1995 © Anton Corbijn)
The opening gallery, for example, features photos selected by Corbijn as important to him personally.
The choices allow us some insight into the photographer himself. For example, the self-portrait that faces you as you enter suggests modesty and depth. (Listening to Corbijn answer questions at the press preview confirmed that interpretation.)
Elsewhere we have photos of musicians, models, artists, actors, models, and cemetery statuary. Not to mention a whole room dedicated to Corbijn’s work with Depeche Mode.
You can appreciate each photo in its own right, but also view them as a collective whole revealing how Corbijn photographs in terms of composition, light & shadow, and similar.
That composition often reflects religious iconography and an awareness of art history. For example, a 1995 photo of Courtney Love carries echoes of Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus.
(Anton Corbijn, Dave Gahan, Frankfurt 1993 © Anton Corbijn)
The early musician photos feel like time travel for someone of my generation (50+). But that’s not why I loved the exhibition.
Corbijn’s portraits often possess a certain something beyond my ability to describe (but I’ll try anyway).
We think we know a subject from their media presence or creative output, but Corbijn seems to subvert those expectations and give a three-dimensionality to the character of those he portrays.
Perhaps we see a private side or private moment, discover the musician or artist in an unexpected setting, or view them from an unusual angle.
The strong contrasts and the captured expressions add emotional richness and, often, a sense of melancholy that seems to almost permeate the galleries. Perhaps a hint at transience…against which fame and success offer no protection.
I felt quite moved, for example, by the 1990 photo of Marianne Faithfull, who died only a few days before the exhibition began.
Creatives can, at least, leave something lasting behind: a legacy in music, paint, words…or, in Corbijn’s case, astonishing photos.
Dates, tickets & tips
View the portriats and more from February 15th to June 29th, 2025. An entrance ticket for the Kunstforum is essentially a ticket for the main exhibition inside, as the institution has no permanent display.
Vienna features various other photo exhibitions over a similar period, such as the National Library’s look at A Century in Pictures (from March 13th, 2025). And, from March 21st, 2025, the new Foto Arsenal Wien opens as an exhibition centre and hub fully dedicated to photography.
If you’ve viewing Corbijn’s work in the couple of weeks leading up to Easter, the Kunstforum actually lies between two nearby seasonal markets: the Altwiener Ostermarkt and the Ostermarkt am Hof. So you can combine international monochrome culture with seasonal Austria fare.
How to get to the exhibition
The Kunstforum lives on the central Freyung square near Schottentor station with its U2 subway line (seems a rather appropriate form of transport for a Corbijn exhibition) and numerous trams. For detailed travel tips, see the main Kunstforum Wien article.
Address: Freyung 8, 1010 Vienna