Klimt, Modernism, and Art’s Relationship with Medicine
In 1894, the State Ministry of Culture, Religion, and Education in Vienna commissioned three paintings for the ceiling of the Great Hall of the University of Vienna to celebrate the institutions accomplishments of Philosophy, Medicine, and Jurisprudence. When the artist who painted these works chose to make a bold stylistic statement, all three were heavily criticized for their eroticism, obscenity, and “ugliness.”