Der Arzt by Ivo Saliger
Dimensions:73 cm.x 53.4cm.

Ivo Saliger's Der Arzt is an emotionally powerful, allegoric depiction of the physician's epic struggle to save human life. Der Arzt features a surgeon fending off death, which has in it's grasp a patient. A real life drama involving the artist's sister, provided the inspiration for this work. The tale told in a letter from Saliger to a student at Case Western Reserve University. The student, Mrs.Killpack, had written to Saliger asking him about the motivation that lay behind Der Arzt. His response is now in the Archives at the Dittrick Medical History Center, reads as follows:

Dear Mrs. Killpack                     Vienna, 6. Dec. 1973
Many thanks for your friendly letter. Please excuse me, that I took so long to answer, but the pre-Christmas period brings a lot of work. Since you were so friendly as to write in the German language, allow me to do this also, because I noticed that you have a perfect command of German; my English, while suitable for conversation, is deficient when it comes to technical terms.
Now to your inquiry: It would have been better, if you had been able to learn how long this picture has been hanging in your institute, if the picture (without the margin) has a size of 52cm x 69cm, if it has an original signature and if it bears a copyright mark on the bottom left. If all this is so, then is it an original copy from the original plate, that I made myself. It is consequently not a machine-print, but rather a hand-print, made in the manner of Dürer, long ago. Perhaps I have unnecessarily told you something that you already knew yourself…. I do not know how many of these copies are distributed around the world; because this picture is dedicated to physicians world-wide, I renounced any limit.
Now to the spirit and the meaning of this picture. It developed out of my mourning. I had a sister. At the close at 1918, as World War I was ending, she got sick. That is to say, the illness, which was perhaps already there, broke out - Lymphogranalomatosis. Several physicians of great stature made an effort to stem her suffering, but we knew it was hopeless. She was 22 years old at this time. I brought my sister to Switzerland, because of the quality of care there. A famous surgeon, the leader of the Zuricher Cantonshospital, endeavored to help my sister. I had known him in Vienna and I was living in his home in Zurich at this time, as a houseguest. Apart from the case of my sister, as a guest, I often listened to my host and his wife discuss other cases at the hospital. There they endeavored to help patients with a succession of diagnostic tests, to delay the inevitable end.
Now an inspiration came to me. I went to my comfortable guestroom and made the first full-size preliminary sketch for the picture. A female figure, barely alive, clinging to the physician, who is attempting to fend off Death, who in turn threatening the patient's life. Perhaps intuitively, I portrayed the face of the physician with a skepticism, an uncertainty, whether the fight will end well or not. Well, to conclude - the physician's eternal fight with Death, is to save human lives. My sister died in April 1920. Cause: Leukemia. At the end of June 1920, after 2 months work, my etching stood complete. This is the real story behind this etching.
I am sorry my handwriting is so small, but I feared that I would not have enough paper.
I hope, I have served you with my explanation and wish you the best regards yours,

Ivo Saliger Prof. akad. Painter / Etchinger
1060 Vienna Lehargasse 11/18 Austria.

P.S. A happy and nice Christmas eve and just a well New Year wish you Ivo Saliger

Later in his career, Ivo Saliger became a favorite artist of the National Socialist Party. Several of his paintings were featured in the annual exhibitions held from 1937-1944 at Haus der Deutschen Kunst (House of German Art), which was a national forum for art that conformed to Hitler's beliefs. These are classically inspired figurative paintings, which were supposed to reflect the Nazi ideal of a pure feminine beauty, devoid of sensuality.