Vienna Secession founder and first president Gustav Klimt designed this poster for the association’s debut exhibition. His poster is striking in its sparseness. At center is a plain square, both a reference to the simplicity of Greek art and a blank slate signaling a fresh beginning. At right stands Pallas Athena who, armed with helmet and Medusa shield, serves as an inspiration for the arts and spiritual combat. At the top the nude Greek hero Theseus valiantly fights the Minotaur to save the youth of Athens from being sacrificed to the monster. Because of objections to the visibility of Theseus’s genitalia, the poster was reissued with the black silhouette of a tree trunk covering part of his figure (please see image below).