Academy of fine arts Vienna was founded in 1692 as a private Academy of the painter of Emperor Leopold I Peter Strudel, thus, it is the oldest art Academy in Central Europe. After the death of the court painter Peter Strudel in 1714, the Academy was temporarily closed. But in 1726 the Emperor Charles VI opened it again.

In 1872, the Academy received the status of a higher educational institution. Since 1876, the Academy occupied the building designed by the architect Theophil Hansen in the style of the Italian Renaissance.

In 1907 and 1908, a young Adolf Hitler, who had come from Linz, twice tried unsuccessfully to enroll in drawing classes. He remained in Vienna and tried to continue his profession of the artist. Soon he was left without a livelihood, and began to sell Amateur paintings, mostly watercolors, till he left Vienna to Munich in may 1913.

Currently the Academy is one of the leading centres for the training of artists. The Academy is divided into the following institutes: Institute of fine arts, which houses three compartments for painting, drawing, visual arts, media, sculpture; the Institute for art theory and cultural studies (art theory, philosophy, history); Institute for the protection and restoration;
Institute of natural Sciences and technologies in art; School of Teaching craft, design, textile art); the Institute for art and architecture. The Academy currently has about 900 students, almost a quarter of which are international students.

In the art gallery, located on the second floor of the West wing houses an impressive collection of paintings Dating back to the XIV century. particularly noteworthy are the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch, the last judgement, as well as works by Rubens, Titian and Rembrandt.