Hey, I'm an undergraduate chemistry major at SUNY Albany in New York. This blog is for anything I find interesting. I have many interests: chemistry, math, philosophy, poetry, libertarianism, etc. I have some hero's who I hope to find on tumblr more often who include: Buckminster Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Carl Jung, Marshall Mcluhan, Kurt Godel, John Muir and more. Any questions about anything, just ask.
Klimt’s Scientific Influence
While I was reading about the influence of golden-age Vienna on modern medicine and painters like Gustav Klimt, I discovered that Klimt’s trademark patterns (the “blobs” and orbs you see above, from Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I) were influenced by early studies of cells under the microscope.
Carl von Rokitansky founded the Second Vienna School of Medicine and eventually befriended Klimt. Rokitansky was a huge influence in the early days of modern science-based medicine, and allowed Klimt to view some of the tissue and bacterial slides from the medical school. It’s a fascinating story, check out more in this interview between Eric Kandel and Jonah Lehrer.
We can talk at length about the similarities of science and art, but this is one of the finest examples of where each feeds from the other. To quote Eric Kandel again, in a note to paste on your wall:
“…[artists] have insight into the human mind that often precedes the insight that scientists have, because scientists need to design experiments, and then carry them out in order to do it. They cannot do it by intuition, alone, as can writers and painters.”
my all time favourite artist. well… top five at least.
Gustav Klimt’s sketch work. I am very excited. Also, CALIFORNIA!!! -YN
I have a poster of this painting from when I saw it on Germany. it’s a fav.
science + art = love
wall: “…[artists] have insight into the human mind that often precedes the insight that scientists have, because...