The Controversy and Destruction of Klimt's "Medicine"

Throughout the expanse of art history, beautiful and intriguing paintings are frankly a dime a dozen. Few, however, have a story as eventful and ultimately tragic as the one behind Gustav Klimt's "Medicine". From intellectual debate and criticism, to threatening University staff with a shotgun, to the crossfires of WWII, this painting has seen it all.

THE CONTROVERSY

The controversy of Gustav Klimt's painting "Medicine" lies in the implicit criticism of the medical field-- certainly the contorted nude figures don't help matters! "Medicine" is one of three commissioned paintings by Klimt for the University of Vienna (along with "Philosophy" and "Jurisprudence"), though none of the paintings were ever displayed by the University due to widespread criticism of the paintings. "Medicine" personifies death as a being among a mass of bodies. The precarious relationship between life and death is represented by the arms reaching out and joining a woman and child to this mass of bodies surrounding death.

This depiction was deemed ignorant of the great achievements of medical professionals and scientists of the time. Perhaps the most controversial figure of all paintings is Hygieia, the dominant figure standing forward and alone in the composition of "Medicine". As one could guess, Hygieia is the goddess of hygiene and health. Asclepius, the Greco-Roman god of medicine, is her father and often symbolised as a snake. In "Medicine", Hygieia holds a chalice and a gold snake, thus it's not such a stretch to assume this figure represents the medical field. Further still, the figure's detachment from the entwinement of life and death was quite predictably not well received from academics of the time.

Though the University would not display the paintings, the ministry of education claimed the paintings were property of the state and could only be displayed in the state gallery of modern art (despite requests for an exhibition in St Louis, Missouri). After denying Klimt's request to keep his work, the artist threatened staff with a shotgun (as you do). This proved sufficiently persuasive as Klimt was allowed to repay the advance and keep the paintings.

THE DESTRUCTION

Following Klimt's death, the paintings were owned by the Austrian-Jewish Lederer family. In 1938 the Lederer's property, including the paintings, were Aryanised under the Nazi regime. The paintings were kept in the Schloss Immendorf castle during WWII, where they were then destroyed in 1945 as the German SS retreated.

A few poor-quality photographs remained, as well as preliminary sketches and an oil paint draft. Thus the painting has been recreated and the image remains an important insight into the history of art, and indeed the history of ideas.

References:

Doctors versus artists: Gustav Klimt's Medicine

Maria Bitsori, Emmanouil Galanakis

BMJ. 2002 Dec 21; 325(7378): 1506–1508. doi: 10.1136/bmj.325.7378.1506