Hygieia
Gustav Klimt’s striking depiction of Hygieia, the Greek goddess of health, wraps her in a mesmerizing robe of red and gold spirals. She holds the iconic Bowl of Hygieia—a snake coiling around her arm to drink from a chalice—a symbol still used in pharmacies today. This figure was the centerpiece of his controversial 'Medicine' painting, commissioned for the University of Vienna, which critics called 'perverse' and 'pornographic' at the time. Tragically, the original masterpiece was destroyed by retreating SS forces in a castle fire in 1945, leaving us with only photographs and studies like this one to admire her golden allure.
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