Love is everywhere: it has shaped the thoughts, feelings and actions of people across all ages and cultures. As self-love, it is self-centred; as spiritual love for God, it seems detached from the world. Love also means devotion to others, whether to one’s romantic partner or to one’s neighbours.
No other emotion has left such a deep mark on art and cultural history. The exhibition ‘The Global Power of Love: A Journey Through the Centuries’ in the State Hall traces this emotion in the holdings of the Austrian National Library and unfolds a panorama of love: from the unattainable ideal of love to forbidden love, from the madness of love to love that transcends death.
Love can also be seen as the source of artistic inspiration in a wide variety of objects. For example, in ancient creation myths or in medieval minnesang, in the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Schubert, or in the literature of Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Arthur Schnitzler and Ingeborg Bachmann. Famous love stories, love letters and love songs from 2000 years show the continuity and versatility of human emotions and the many variations of the global power of love, going beyond conventions and traditional gender roles.