Google Arts & Culture launches virtual Klimt retrospective with AI-restored lost works

Google Arts & Culture has launched 'Klimt vs. Klimt', a comprehensive online retrospective of Gustav Klimt featuring over 120 masterpieces from more than 30 cultural institutions worldwide, including the Belvedere, Albertina, Klimt Foundation, Neue Galerie New York, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The virtual exhibition uses machine learning, augmented reality, and 3D technology to reconstruct three lost works—Philosophy, Medicine, and Jurisprudence—from Klimt's Faculty Paintings series, originally created between 1899 and 1907 for the University of Vienna ceiling and destroyed in a 1945 fire at Immendorf Castle. Only black-and-white photographs of these works survived. The color reconstruction was guided by Dr. Franz Smola, a leading Klimt expert, who emphasized the importance of color to the paintings' impact. The exhibition also includes high-resolution captures of 'The Kiss' and 'Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer I' using Google's Art Camera. The project is accessible via g.co/klimtvsklimt or the Google Arts & Culture app on iOS and Android.