VIENNA — After the December disrobing of an exhibitionist visitor during a walk through the Vienna Leopold Museum’s controversial “Nude Men” exhibition ginned up significant press for the exhibition, the museum’s directors organized a special after hours nude viewing of the exhibition on Monday evening. After 6pm, only those fully in the buff were allowed into the museum’s halls (footwear was permitted) and more than a handful of both men and women turned up.

A video posted on Austrian newspaper Der Standard’s website shows several tour groups milling about through the show to get an art historical take on their nudist lifestyle. According to Leopold Museum spokesperson Klaus Porkorny, the idea began when they were asked by a German nudist organization if it would be possible to visit the exhibition without clothes on. As one visitor told the paper, “I thought it was only appropriate. If the images are nudes, I would like to see them while naked as well.”

Though the exhibition was originally set to close on January 28, significant public interest prompted the museum to extend the exhibition through March 4.

— ARTINFO Germany

Tags: Leopold Museum, News, Nude Men, Vienna