The Austrian Photographic Gallery was established in Salzburg in 1983 in conjunction with the foundation of the Modern Gallery Rupertinum.

This was the first platform for photographic activities at an Austrian museum dedicated to the dissemination of photographic art and compilation of a collection of contemporary photography. The photography collection was initiated by the museum's founding director Otto Breicha and is today managed by Margit Zuckriegl, head of the “Photography and Media” collection at the MdM SALZBURG.

The "Austrian Photographic Gallery“ at the MdM SALZBURG is the only public collection of contemporary Austrian photography and has been continually enlarged for the past 30 years.

Today the collection comprises approx. 18,000 items with the main focus on bodies of works and oeuvre groups by renowned photographic artists.

The collecting activity focuses on the first significant generation of photographers of the post-World War II era; the collection owns important portfolios and individual photographs by artists such as Inge Morath, Ernst Haas and Franz Hubmann as representatives of journalistically oriented documentary photography.

Another focal point of the collection is photography of Viennese Actionism with works by Günter Brus, Otto Muehl, Hermann Nitsch and Rudolf Schwarzkogler. Contemporary works by the middle and young generations of artists are also represented owing to regular purchases.

The photography and media collection at the MdM SALZBURG is divided into two main parts: „The Austrian Photographic Gallery” and „The Bank Austria FOTOGRAFIS Collection“.

The Austrian Photographic Gallery

sconsists of
- Aacquisitions of photographs and media made by the MdM SALZBURG and
- state-owned photographs on permanent loan from the BMUKK (Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture)
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Bank Austria FOTOGRAFIS Collection

on permanent loan to the MdM SALZBURG since 2009.
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Exhibitions of the Photography and Media Collection

The Photography and Media Collection at the MdM SALZBURG is not conceived as a mere archive for the administration of the museum's holdings. Exhibitions of selected works from the collection based on thematic aspects or monographic presentations of individual artists are organised for the MdM SALZBURG and other institutions. more ...

Otto Breicha-Prize for Photographic Art 

In connection with the focal points of the collection the Otto Breicha Prize is awarded every two years. more ...