But these days people just can’t get enough of cat content. And AI tools like DALL-E and Midjourney now enable users to insert these four-legged online favorites into just about any setting imaginable, in a matter of seconds. But where exactly does AI get its creativity from (ignoring for a minute the off-the-wall trigger texts that some users submit)?
AI mines vast repositories of existing artworks for data before replicating their substance and style. So, you could say it was era-defining artists like Klimt (a huge cat fan, by the way) and Schiele that made AI artworks possible in the first place. So even after death, they are able to teach artificial intelligence a thing or two.
See the art behind AI art There are more than 100 museums for you to discover in Vienna. While cats are (regrettably) not allowed in, you can still see the original works behind the AI in their unique real-world settings. Cast your eye over every last detail of Gustav Klimt's Kiss at the Belvedere Palace, step back and take in Egon Schiele's Chinese lanterns at the Leopold Museum, and schedule a pitstop at a Viennese coffeehouse in between.
The Kiss (Lovers) by Gustav Klimt (©Belvedere, Vienna) is the most famous Austrian painting of all, and the highlight of the permanent collection on display at the Upper Belvedere. It depicts a couple cloaked in richly decorated robes who are locked in an embrace on a steep flower-filled meadow. The painting was created in 1907/08 at the height of Klimt's Golden Period, in which the artist developed a new creative technique that involved combining gold leaf with oil and bronze paint.
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© Belvedere Vienna & Midjourney AI Picture generated by Vienna Tourist Board
Created in 1912, Self-Portrait with Chinese Lantern Plant (©Leopold Museum, Vienna) is one of Egon Schiele's best-known works. A balanced composition in which nothing is left to chance, each line finds its continuation or counterpart: hair and body – mirroring each other – are cropped from the horizontal edges of the picture, while the gravity of these darker elements is eased by the strong red coloration in the fruits of the Chinese lantern plant. Ultimately, the effect is to present the artist as fragile yet at the same time self-confident.
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© Leopold Museum & Midjourney AI Picture generated by Vienna Tourist Board
Tower of Babel, 1563: Pieter Bruegel’s monumental composition (© Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) is one of the most famous, most copied and most interpreted depictions of the tower’s construction. Tiny by comparison, the Flemish-style port in the painting gives an idea of the sheer scale of the edifice. With painstaking attention to detail and encyclopedic interest, Bruegel integrated myriad details of building and artisan processes into the work. In the stone outer shell of the tower, he incorporates ancient and Romanesque architectural elements.
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© Kunsthistorisches Museum & Midjourney AI Picture generated by Vienna Tourist Board
The Kiss (Lovers) by Gustav Klimt (©Belvedere, Vienna) is the most famous Austrian painting of all, and the highlight of the permanent collection on display at the Upper Belvedere. It depicts a couple cloaked in richly decorated robes who are locked in an embrace on a steep flower-filled meadow. The painting was created in 1907/08 at the height of Klimt's Golden Period, in which the artist developed a new creative technique that involved combining gold leaf with oil and bronze paint.
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© Belvedere Vienna & Midjourney AI Picture generated by Vienna Tourist Board
Created in 1912, Self-Portrait with Chinese Lantern Plant (©Leopold Museum, Vienna) is one of Egon Schiele's best-known works. A balanced composition in which nothing is left to chance, each line finds its continuation or counterpart: hair and body – mirroring each other – are cropped from the horizontal edges of the picture, while the gravity of these darker elements is eased by the strong red coloration in the fruits of the Chinese lantern plant. Ultimately, the effect is to present the artist as fragile yet at the same time self-confident.
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© Leopold Museum & Midjourney AI Picture generated by Vienna Tourist Board
Tower of Babel, 1563: Pieter Bruegel’s monumental composition (© Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) is one of the most famous, most copied and most interpreted depictions of the tower’s construction. Tiny by comparison, the Flemish-style port in the painting gives an idea of the sheer scale of the edifice. With painstaking attention to detail and encyclopedic interest, Bruegel integrated myriad details of building and artisan processes into the work. In the stone outer shell of the tower, he incorporates ancient and Romanesque architectural elements.
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© Kunsthistorisches Museum & Midjourney AI Picture generated by Vienna Tourist Board