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Images of the Flow of Life at the Josephinum – Gustav Klimt and Medicine
Gustav Klimt: Medicine (Study), 1898 (überarbeitet: 1898), The Israel Museum
© The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Gustav Klimt: Medicine, 1900-1907, 1945 in Schloss Immendorf verbrannt, in: Kunstverlag Hugo Heller (Hg.): Das Werk von Gustav Klimt, Vienna - Leipzig 1918.
© Klimt Foundation, Vienna
The Josephinum will open its doors to visitors from March 26, 2026, through June 28, 2026, for the exhibition "Gustav Klimt and Medicine: Images of the Flow of Life." The exhibition explores the intellectual awakening and state of medical knowledge in Vienna around 1900, with Gustav Klimt serving as a prominent representative of this era. The exhibition is curated by Tobias G. Natter. An accompanying publication will be released.
The exhibition is held at Joseph II’s second neoclassical landmark building—the Josephinian Military Academy of Surgery, the Josephinum. It houses and displays the collections of the Medical University of Vienna spanning the last 200 years, from which selected exhibits have been included in the special exhibition. Together with the Klimt works on display, this creates a fascinating synthesis of science and art.
Klimt’s legendary faculty painting The Medicine (1900–1907) forms the centerpiece of the exhibition: Originally commissioned for the Main Ceremonial Hall at the University of Vienna but never accepted, it was destroyed by fire in 1945 at Immendorf Castle in Lower Austria and was known only through contemporary reproductions; in 2021/22 it was reconstructed in color through a collaboration between art sciences and AI-supported technologies (Google Arts and Culture & Belvedere, Vienna). It can also be seen in a monumental version on the façade of the Anna Spiegel Research Building at MedUni Vienna. Several years earlier, Director Peter Weinhäupl (formerly of the Leopold Museum, since 2013 at the Klimt Foundation) had proposed a 1:1 reconstruction of the faculty paintings. These black-and-white reproductions are currently on display at their original location, the Main Ceremonial Hall at the University of Vienna.
Klimt’s Medicine can be seen as a symbol of the artist’s engagement with the human body. In the historic lecture hall of the Josephinum, some 25 Klimt drawings are on display, illustrating his exploration of the "flow of life between becoming and passing away." These works on loan from various institutions and private lenders are complemented by exhibits on the history of medicine from the Josephinum.