Goldfish (To My Critics), Gustav Klimt (Austrian), 1901-2, oil and gold on canvas, 181 x 66.5 cm, Swiss Institute for Art Research, Zurich
In 1894, Gustav Klimt was commissioned by the government to paint the ceiling of the great hall in the University of Vienna. The first of three paintings (all of which were destroyed by retreating Nazi troops in 1945), Philosophy, was presented to officials in 1900. It was immediately deemed pornographic, as were the subsequent two paintings (Medicine and Jurisprudence). None of the paintings were accepted by the university, and Klimt refused to ever take a government commission again. To demonstrate all the fucks he gave, after critics’ reactions to Philosophy, Klimt produced the above painting and carried on with the Vienna Secession.
