Located in the Otto Wagner building at Neustiftgasse 40 (entrance on Döblergasse 2),
The Vienna Academy of Visionary Art is part of the rich cultural life in Vienna’s vibrant & artistic 7th district.

The Vienna Academy of Visionary Art

The Vienna Academy is an international teaching institution (with English as the primary language of instruction) that accepts up to twenty students per year in its One to Three Year Diploma programmes. For shorter stays, we also offer studies of a Single Trimester (3 months) and a Half Trimester (5 weeks) in Vienna, as well as our Spring  Seminar (10 days) and Summer Seminar (3 weeks) in Italy.

Founded in honour of Professor Ernst Fuchs, the Academy is dedicated to the pursuit of a new Spiritual Renaissance in art. The artists on our faculty – many of whom assisted Professor Fuchs – form a collective called The Visionary Guild. From London, Paris and Vienna to Melbourne Australia and the West Coast of America, two of these artists transmit their artistry on a trimester basis, following the time-honoured methods of traditional academies.

Over the course of the academic year, the student develops two paintings per trimester under the guidance of the two trimester teachers – receiving a direct transmission of the artists’ techniques and spiritual approaches to painting. Thus, the student cycles through six different faculty members each year, keeping the approach to painting lively, fresh and original.

To provide continuity, Academy Director Laurence Caruana lectures year-round on specific topics (particularly from his book Sacred Codes: The Forgotten Principles of Painting, Revived by Visionary Art). Smaller works are completed, as exercises, in such skill areas as Composition, Armature, Perspective, Sacred Geometry, Binding Media and Colour Chemistry. The students also draw from the live nude on a weekly basis, to encourage a better understanding of beauty, style and the idealization of the human figure. Modern techniques, such as Acrylics, Airbrushing and Digital Art are also transmitted by artists who have made these techniques an essential part of their working methods.

The students’ paintings are exhibited at the end of each trimester – with emphasis on promoting and selling your work, to learn the commercial side of art.

Spread across two floors and covering over 500 sq. meters (5,400 sq. feet), the Academy facilities include three large rooms: the Studio reserved for teachers & students of our trimester courses; the Gallery as a street-front multi-purpose space for exhibitions, art workshops, figure drawing and lectures, and the Temple as a cultural space for mind & body activities such as yoga, integrative dance, and concerts. A variety of smaller rooms serve as our communal kitchen / relaxation area, administrative offices, the teachers’ studios and a crafts atelier.

At the heart of our programme is the individual artist’s quest for beauty, harmony and unity, through visions of the Sacred. With a solid technical foundation, the next generation may revive a higher form of art – an Ars Sacrum that idealizes the human form, while actually transfiguring humanity through visions of oneness. By promoting cultural ideals of craftsmanship, mastery and ingenuity, we celebrate the individual emergence of creativity and genius.

Hence our motto: Ad Sacrum – Toward the Sacred.