One feature of the museum’s collecting strategy is
to acquire groups of works rather than isolated, individual works in
order to afford a more nuanced understanding of the artistic ideas and
creative principles behind a given oeuvre.
Purchases
for the Graphic Arts Collection of the Albertina consist exclusively of
drawings and prints. Above and beyond that, however, many
artists—conceiving of their output as an indivisible artistic whole—have
also donated important paintings to the museum, since they regard
drawings, printed graphics, and paintings simply as different forms in
which to express the same artistic concepts and ideas.