Folded Beauty

Autumn Exhibition
8.9.2010 - 23.1.2011
Press Release June 2010

General Press information

Imperial Furniture Collection
Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H.
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exhibition > photos

Romy Schneider - a tribute to youth

Photographic exhibition marking the 25th anniversary of Romy Schneider

30 May - 23 September 2007

The 29 May marks the 25th anniversary of Romy Schneider's death. As a tribute to this great actress the Imperial Furniture Collection is hosting an exhibition of 82 black and white photographs of the young Romy Schneider dating from 1956 to 1958.

In addition, three of the original costumes from the Sissi films will be on display: Sissi's wedding dress and court ball gown together with the magnificent coronation mantle worn by Karlheinz Böhm as Emperor Franz Joseph. The three costumes derive from the costume stores of Lambert Hofer.

The photographs and costumes are this year's accompaniment to the permanent exhibition entitled Sissi in the Movies - Furniture of an Empress in which numerous pieces of furniture and props from the 1950s films about the empress directed by Ernst Marischka are on display.

The exhibition: personal encounters with the young Romy Schneider

The exhibition focuses on the young Romy Schneider. Shooting for the second part of the Sissi  trilogy has just been completed. Half the world lies at the young actress's feet. However, the prospect of making a third sequel and other films of this kind in the future was making her unhappy. She did not feel at home in the conformist Germany of the 1950s economic miracle. The great love of her life, Alain Delon, showed her the way out of the saccharine world of imperial romance, opening up new perspectives in her life and career: France with its exciting young cinematic scene and great directors offered her a new home and the chance of maturing into a serious actress. In Austria and Germany this 'act of treason' led to a wave of indignation, as her audience was still dreaming of a fourth sequel to the Sissi saga.

During these years when she was searching for a meaning to her life, one friend was often at her side: Franz X. Lederle. She met the young cameraman and photographer on the set of Kitty und die große Welt / Kitty and the Great Big World in 1956. It was then that a series of carefree photographs came about, taken on summer trips to Lake Starnberg: Romy pouting, Romy with her hair bound up in a Simone de Beauvoir-style headscarf - spontaneous photos showing us a Romy full of girlish charm and grace.

The next series of photos was taken in 1958, when Romy returned home from shooting Christine. A lot had happened during the intervening months: Alain Delon had entered her life, and the third part of the Sissi trilogy had been completed - an obligation she had fulfilled only with extreme reluctance. She had experienced great happiness as well as disappointments. Lederle's portraits now show an elegant young woman with Parisian chic posing against a stylish sportscar, or a sceptical woman with a dreamy expression behind a window pane wet with rain.

These photographs were taken in a private context, almost in passing. Nevertheless they successfully capture the change that took place in this young actress who refused to let herself be typecast in one role, who risked everything and matured into a great actress.

Franz X. Lederle chronicled this transformation, recording this period in her life in sensitive portraits. Shortly after they were taken, Romy Schneider returned to Paris. The two were only to meet once more, years later and by chance, at an airport in Berlin.

Opening hours: Tue - Sun 10 am - 6 pm