[3] Historian Herwig Czech told the Austrian Press Agency that Gugging was the scene "of some of the most barbarous medical crimes committed in Austria" during the Nazi Regime.

Anna Wödl, a nurse and the mother of a disabled child living at Gugging, attempted to save the life of her son by petitioning against his relocation to Hartheim.

[5] In the late 1950s, psychiatrist Leo Navratil (1921-2006), of the Maria Gugging Psychiatric Clinic, had his patients produce drawings for diagnostic purposes.

Feilacher stressed the role that art played at Gugging and went on to change its name to the "House of Artists" (German: Haus der Künstler).

Within Europe, the House of Artists is regarded as a model for psychiatric reforms based on art therapy as a means to reintegrate clients into society.

In early 1994 David Bowie and Brian Eno visited the Gugging psychiatric hospital to interview and photograph the celebrated artist-patients famous for their "Outsider Art".

Philipp Weiss's Ein schöner Hase ist meistens der Einzellne is based on the real-life story of Ernst Herbeck (1920–1991) and August Walla (1936–2001), two schizophrenic artistic patients of Gugging.