(Vienna, 24 February 2025) In an article in the Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift, Rector Markus Müller, together with Vice-Rector Oswald Wagner and Belvedere curator Franz Smola, describes the history of Gustav Klimt's factual paintings and the impressive project of reconstructing the faculty painting "Medicine" with the help of artificial intelligence. The detailed replica was unveiled on the facade of a research building at the Medical University of Vienna in November 2024.
This article examines the close connection between the painter Gustav Klimt and the Second Viennese Medical School and in particular the controversy surrounding his faculty painting "Medicine" for the University of Vienna. Klimt, a leading representative of Viennese Modernism, was commissioned to design ceiling paintings for the University of Vienna together with Franz Matsch in 1894. His work "Medicine", which was presented at the Vienna Secession in 1901, sparked a fierce public debate. Critics criticised the fact that Klimt did not depict the achievements of medicine, but rather staged human existence as a fate characterised by illness and death. Despite international recognition, including a gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris, the work met with rejection in Vienna.
Due to continued resistance, Klimt terminated the contract with the ministry in 1905 and sold the painting to private collectors. During the Second World War, "Medicine" was stored together with other faculty paintings in Immendorf Castle, where it was destroyed by fire in 1945.
The article describes the AI-supported reconstruction of the painting in 2024 by Google Arts & Culture in collaboration with the Austrian Belvedere Gallery. This colourful replica, which was installed on the facade of a research building of the Medical University of Vienna (Anna Spiegel Research Building), symbolises a bridge between historical and modern medicine.
Publication: Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift
Gustav Klimt and the Vienna School of Medicine
Müller, M., Wagner, O. & Smola F.
Vienna Clinical Weekly (2025), 21 February 2025. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00508-025-02503-z
Exhibition at the Belvedere
Gustav Klimt - Pigment & Pixel
Rediscovering art with technology
Recent technological analyses provide new insights into Gustav Klimt's working methods and his artistic practice. Looking beneath the surface of the layers of paint makes it possible to understand the process of creating his paintings. Occasionally, there are surprising deviations between the preliminary drawing and the final execution of the paintings.
Curated by Franz Smola.
20 February to 7 September 2025
https://www.belvedere.at/gustav-klimt-pigment-pixel