As one of the first publicly accessible museums in the world, the Belvedere played a role in the exhibition scene early on. From 1777, visitors to the Upper Belvedere were able to view the reorganization of the Imperial Picture Gallery designed by Christian von Mechel during fixed opening hours and with free admission.

In contrast to the representative Baroque hanging, Christian von Mechel rearranged the collection according to art-historical criteria, causing controversy. The accompanying collection guide “Verzeichniß der Gemälde der Kaiserlich Königlichen Bilder Gallerie in Wien” from 1783 guides the visitor through the rooms of the Belvedere and is also an important source text for museum historiography.

The first public exhibitions at the Academy of Fine Arts were held as early as 1774 and 1777. After the Academy moved to the St. Annahof in the 1st district in 1786, public art exhibitions were regularly held there, accompanied by printed catalogues.

From the middle of the 19th century, the Österreichischer Kunstverein, founded in 1850, was an important presentation platform for local artists with the aim of networking with foreign art schools.

After the founding of the Genossenschaft bildender Künstler Wiens in 1861, there was a professional representation for artists for the first time, which found its home in the Künstlerhaus built a few years later, where it became the central hub for exhibitions in Vienna for many decades. Thanks to a digitisation cooperation with the Künstlerhaus, the early catalogues of the Vienna Künstlerhaus up to 1910 are gradually being put online in the Belvedere Digital Library.

Around 1900, the art scene became more diverse with the founding of the large artists' associations Secession and Hagenbund, which in turn rivaled the established Künstlerhaus, but also each other. At the same time, a relevant gallery scene emerged for the first time in Vienna around Galerie Miethke, Kunstsalon Pisko and Galerie Arnot.