Gustav Klimt created some ofthe worlds most expensive masterpieces, but around20% of his artworks have been lost.
Among them arethe so-calledFaculty Paintings:Philosophy,Medicine, andJurisprudence.
The three pieces are believed to have been destroyed in a fire during World War Two.
Only black and white photos of the artworks remain.
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The painters palette
AI colorization of black and white photos has been criticized forinaccurately depicting the past.
Paintings add extra complexity to the process, as artists often dont intend to replicate reality.
To understand these choices, the Google team turned to Dr Franz Smola, a curator at Belvedere.
This research was used to develop an algorithm that replicated Klimts style.
Next, the algorithm was trained on Klimts own paintings to replicate his colorization style.
The researchers alsodeveloped an interface to interact with the algorithm.
This was used to apply reference colors from Smolas research to the artworks.
We may never know how well the reproductions replicate the originals.
But theyre the closest people have come to experiencingtheFaculty Paintingsfor more than 70 years.
Story byThomas Macaulay
Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he e(show all)Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse).
