/ 28 July 2005

Go nude for the naked truth at Vienna museum

Vienna's Leopold Museum has invited the public to come in the nude on Friday to view an exhibition of erotic works by Austrian masters such as Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele, a spokesperson said on Wednesday. The exhibition is titled <i>The Naked Truth: Klimt, Schiele, Kokoschka and Other Scandals</i>.

Vienna’s Leopold Museum has invited the public to come in the nude on Friday to view an exhibition of erotic works by Austrian masters such as Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.

“At this time of the year, people prefer the beach to museums because there they get to take their clothes off. So, we thought they find this an attractive proposition,” Verena Dahlitz said.

The more bashful could wear bathing suits, she added.

The exhibition, titled The Naked Truth: Klimt, Schiele, Kokoschka and Other Scandals, showcases nude portraits by Austrian artists that scandalised the country at the turn of the century and have in many cases retained their shock value.

Dahlitz said the exhibition has already drawn 70 000 visitors and the museum is not trying to make money but merely “wanted to do something that nobody has dared yet”. — AFP