Isabel ArtTalk: The Portrait in Vienna 1900 at the National Gallery

The current exhibition at the National Gallery is called Portrait of Vienna 1900; on the evidence of this show it should have been called City on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Nobody in this show looks cheerful - even the father depicted holding up his infant son cannot raise a smile. The only smile is hidden behind a later canvas, and is by a painter who shortly after committed suicide. Portrait painting is, of course, a major strand of the British painting tradition, and the contrast with the British take on this genre was striking - evidently, to the Viennese a portrait was supposed to be serious, even inscrutable; to my eye there is little attempt to depict personality or personal accomplishments. In the earlier works there is no striking of poses, and only one case where the subject displays professional accoutrements. In contrast, in the later works the artists seem to impose their own poses and tensions, which do not seem necessarily related to the sitter (except in the case of self-portraits of course).

The "British" portrait

Only one portrait seemed to be to be remotely "British" - the subject is unsmiling but dignified, holding plans which indicate his professional standing. In contrast, in portrait of Isabella Reiser, she shows her teeth but in what looks like a grimacing rictus rather than a grin. Later artists often made their subjects look seriously disturbed; no wonder their models tended to be friends and family (or themselves), as this is not the image the newly rich and socially uncertain would wish to project. The famous portraits by Klimt, paid for by rich husbands, seem designed to display the expense and beauty of trophy wives rather than record the personality of a successful society hostess.

It should be no surprise that these works betray tensions - I had not realised that Vienna's population grew enormously from 1867, when all the population groups of the multinational Hapsburg empire gained equal legal footing. In spite of this, Vienna was still relatively small for a major capital, and the various city groups vied for social and economic status; in the art world, this meant artists had to compete fiercely for a limited number of patrons. There was a lot of money to be made by the fortunate few, but whether this brought a feeling of real security is debatable - no wonder this is the city of Sigmund Freud. Edward de Waal's book The Hare with Golden Eyes gives a wonderful account of the life of his Ephrussi relatives in turn of the century Vienna, and he contributes an introduction to the exhibition catalogue.

Although the title of the exhibition refers to 1900, at least half of the exhibits are before this date; this is effective in providing historical background but the portraits are mostly of no great merit. In fact, the show as a whole works better as an illustrated history than as an art show, as there is not enough space to showcase the more interesting later artists effectively. All the same, I came away enlightened and with a greater understanding of the background to the turn of the century Viennese art world, which was no doubt the intention of the show.