Apollo Magazine

Why Vienna is too vulgar for the Victoria Line

Advertising posters bearing nude sketches by Egon Schiele were deemed too racy for London's commuters

A sorry state: Schiele on the Underground

A sorry state: Schiele on the Underground

To Vienna, where museums are gearing up for a host of commemorative events to mark the centenary of the deaths of Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele next year. To publicise the programme, the Vienna tourist board has embarked on an international poster campaign, employing some of the artists’ most celebrated works.

Unfortunately, as the New York Times reports, not everything has gone to plan. In London, posters featuring reproductions of Schiele’s nudes have apparently been deemed too ‘racy’ for display on the Tube.

Apparently, Transport for London rejected the original images, fearing that depictions of genitals in a public space might cause offence. But in an inspired response, the designers modified the pictures, covering the offending details with banners emblazoned with the slogan: ‘SORRY, 100 years old but still too daring today’.

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