At its core, the Paintings Gallery is an aristocratic collection monument that dates back to the bequest of Anton Paula Count Lamberg-Sprinzenstein in 1822. The Academy owes unrivalled treasures to this bequest of around 700 objects, above all the Last Judgement Triptych by Hieronymus Bosch and numerous major works of Flemish and Dutch painting, including the Portrait of a Young Woman by Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, the Self-Portrait by Anthonis van Dyck and Boreas and Oreithya by Peter Paul Rubens.

Exquisite panel paintings from Italian painting at the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, including the Coronation of the Virgin by Antonio da Fabriano and the Madonna with Child and Two Angels by Botticelli, were donated by Prince Johann II von und zu Liechtenstein.

The history of the Vienna Academy is documented in the so-called reception pieces of the members of the Academy, such as The Death of Germanicus, 1789, by Heinrich Friedrich Füger and the representative portraits, such as the Portrait of Prince Clemens Wenzel Lothar Metternich in the Regalia of a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece by Johann Nepomuk Ender from 1835. The iconic Portrait of Maria Theresa as Queen of Hungary by court painter Martin van Meytens, on the other hand, is part of the old collection and was once used to decorate the council chamber of the Vienna Academy.

The Graphic Collection is one of the most important collections of graphic art in Austria and, as a historical collection of teaching aids, documents the events at the Academy. From its holdings, the entire collection of Gothic architectural drawings is represented on Kulturpool, including the Elevation of the medieval Vienna City Hall by Laurenz Spenning. This is a unique collection of architectural drawings from the late Middle Ages, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (Memory of the World Register).

Among the special highlights from the graphic field are old master drawings from the German and Dutch schools, such as the Portrait of an Eighteen-Year-Old Youth by Albrecht Dürer and drawings by Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, such as the Landscape with Tavern and Farmhouses under Trees.

There are also numerous highlights from the field of prints on Kulturpool, including the Melencolia by Albrecht Dürer and the Hundred Guilder Print by Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn.

The historical Plaster Cast Collection were used as teaching aids for the training of artists. Today, it still comprises 450 objects, consisting mainly of casts of classical antique originals, but also of major works from the history of European sculpture.

These include the Ares Borghese, the Capitoline Venus, the Medusa Rondanini, but also the Roman Pietà or The Dying Slave by Michelangelo, as well as busts of French writers from the Comédie Française. The few originals - such as the Hera of Ephesus - and the bozzetti from the Ringstrasse period are particularly valuable.