The unexpected science behind Klimt's artwork
Unexpected Elements
BBC
4.4 • 565 Ratings
🗓️ 28 November 2025
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer by Gustav Klimt has recently sold for $236m, making it the second-most expensive artwork ever sold at auction.
Inspired by this headline, the Unexpected Elements team delve into the story of how microbiology may have influenced Klimt’s work.
Speaking of microbiology, we find out that bacteria could help restore frescoes to their former glory.
We also get on the line with Dr Siyakha Mguni, an archaeologist and senior lecturer at the University of Cape Town, who tells us about ancient artworks far older than anything Klimt ever painted.
Plus, the world’s biggest spider’s web, and why mosquitoes are impressive 3D printers.
All that, plus many more Unexpected Elements.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, with Andrada Fiscutean and Edd Gent Producers: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell, with Margaret Sessa Hawkins, Alice McKee, Lucy Davies and Robbie Wojciechowski
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | In 2019, we began investigating the disappearance of Dr. Ruzha Ignatva. |
| 0:14.0 | I believe we are a very special network. |
| 0:16.0 | A scammer who stole billions from investors around the world. She's on the FBI's 10 most wanted list. |
| 0:24.5 | And now we have some unmissable updates. She has money and when you have money, you have power. |
| 0:30.6 | Join me, Jamie Bartlett, as the hunt for the missing crypto queen continues. Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:40.2 | This week, I've been in Buenos Aires in Argentina and with my final free afternoon, |
| 0:47.0 | I took myself off to a cemetery called Recoletta. It's so much more than a burial place. |
| 0:53.3 | The art and the architecture and the social history you can uncover |
| 0:56.9 | by wandering among avenues of grand mausoleums |
| 1:00.2 | makes this place a top tourist destination. |
| 1:04.6 | One in particular grabbed my attention, |
| 1:07.5 | the tomb of Argentine painter Larko. |
| 1:10.5 | The outside is striking enough. The windows and |
| 1:13.3 | the doors are wrapped in metal poppies and the space is locked but you can just about see the |
| 1:18.8 | reflections of a scene in stained glass on the inside and it left me wondering who that art was |
| 1:25.6 | for. I mean it certainly wasn't for gawping tourists like me |
| 1:29.4 | that couldn't get in to see it properly. So for relatives coming to pay their respects? Or maybe, |
| 1:35.3 | maybe for no one, because having beautiful art on his tomb felt appropriate, even if few people |
| 1:41.9 | can ever even see it. |
| 1:46.6 | I'm Marnie Chesterton from the BBC World Service. |
| 1:48.7 | This is Unexpected Elements. And as always, I'm joined by a panel of global science journalists. |
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