In certain historical periods, such as in Ancient Greece, it seemed that no artist could work without receiving the feedback "hmm, it's good, but could it be better if they had their genitals out?"
Then there are other times when artists pushed the boundaries of acceptability. Either way, the result was the same: museums are crammed to the brim with statues and paintings of people in the nude. This is a problem when museums try and share the work on social media with very strict "no nudity" rules.
The Vienna Tourist Board, bored with having content taken down by Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, has decided to go with the obvious solution: starting their own OnlyFans page.
"Right now, an algorithm determines what is okay to see and what is not," spokesperson for the Vienna Tourist Board, Helena Hartlauer, told NBC News. "And it definitely should not determine our cultural legacy."
"Over the years, Vienna has been home to some of the world’s most famous artists – including Egon Schiele and Koloman Moser, whose works pushed the boundaries of what was considered acceptable in art and society at the time," the museum wrote of their decision to join the site, which has become synonymous with paying to see nudity.
"And the battle against censorship still rages on: with the rise of social media, bans like these are back in headlines once again. Major social media channels like Instagram and Facebook have nudity and 'lewd' content firmly in their sights."
"Vienna and its art institutions are among the casualties of this new wave of prudishness – with nude statues and famous artworks blacklisted under social media guidelines, and repeat offenders even finding their accounts temporarily suspended. That’s why we decided to put the capital’s world-famous “explicit” artworks on OnlyFans. By putting Vienna’s historical 18+ content on OnlyFans, subscribers can now view provocative works by the likes of Egon Schiele, Richard Gerstl, Koloman Moser and Amedeo Modigliani – all of which are on show for all to see in the capital."
On their OnlyFans page, you can see paintings from Two Squatting Women by Egon Schiele to the wife of Peter Paul Rubens, Helena Fourment, getting out of the bath.
As well as being a clever way to draw attention to their exhibits, and to post images of them without getting told off by Mark Zuckerberg, the idea is to get people talking about modern-day censorship on social media.
"We've decided to try to start a conversation about this topic because we thought it's very Vienna," Hartlauer told NBC News. "Because Vienna has always been a very open minded city. We believe it's important for Vienna institutions in general to have some space for different ideas, and we're not afraid of the naked truth."
Subscribers to the OnlyFans page can get a free Vienna City Card or an admission ticket to one of the museums featured on their OnlyFans channel by sending proof of their subscription to the board.
