Hygeia

Trained as an architectural painter, Gustav Klimt paintings contributed to the interior decorations of numerous public buildings in Vienna. Among the more famous cases are the faculty paintings he completed for the University of Vienna in the years 1900-07. The three paintings, Medicine, Philosophy and Jurisprudence, covered three central faculties at the school. The paintings were unfortunately all destroyed by retreating SS forces in May 1945.

 

The second of the three works was unveiled at the tenth Secession Exhibition in 1901. This work covered Medicine. In the painting we find a river of life running in the upper part, with a floating girl and her newborn symbolizing life and a skeleton within the river of life symbolizing its ties to death. In the lower part of the painting, we find Hygeia, the Greek goodness of health, cleanliness and sanitation and daughter of the god of medicine. Standing there in her red robes, the Aesculapius snake is wrapped around her arm while she is holding the cup of Lethe in her hand (the drinking of which results in the loss of memory). A photo of Hygeia taken before the destruction of the painting ensures that we have a clear view of how this masterful depiction looked.

 

In the painting, we see Hygeia somewhat turning her back to mankind. She seems aloof and somewhat abstracted. Combined with the river of life present, it provides a sort of an ambiguous unity of life and death in the painting. This ambiguous unity was interpreted as a lacking role for medicine in curing the sick and preventing death. The piece was thus widely criticized for this when it was first revealed. The faculty paintings were also accused of being perverted and pornographic, though that is hardly unusual for works of Klimt at this time.

 

Still, the look and pose of Hygeia is one of power and deferred interest. She looks majestic in her red robe with golden symbols, as she considers her interest in what lays before her. It is a true Klimt master piece and one that highly deserves reproduction, so that we can once again enjoy its forceful beauty.