Prague-born painter Gabriel von Max isn’t for everyone. Ever since his major debut in 1867 with The Christian Martyr—depicting a female saint on a crucifix, cast in pallid shades of blue and gray—art consumers have been put off by his morbid tendencies. It doesn’t help that Max, an admirer of the occult, séances, and scientific theory, came into his prime during the Victorian era. Darwinism wasn’t exactly fodder for portraits back then.

Despite critical acclaim, the artist’s technical skills have long been overshadowed by his subject matter, and his work hasn’t shown in a solo exhibit in the United States until now. On July 7 the Frye opened Gabriel von Max: Be-Tailed Cousins and Phantasms of the Soul, a collection of more than 30 Max paintings—with The Christian Martyr, part of the Frye’s founding collection, at its center—as well as woodcuts on the theme of Faust; family photos that show Max holding joke séances; and a study on his relationship with monkeys.

And wow, were there monkeys. Max and his second wife (and former mistress) Ernestine lived with primates for decades; he showed great respect for the animals, using them as models for his later work. Paintings The Botanists and Renunciation depict melancholic capuchin monkeys: Their eyes show depth and curiosity, as they thoughtfully examine a vase of flowers like furry horticulturalists. While Max was a formidable artist, he was also a scientist and avid collector who nearly bankrupted himself putting together a trove of 60,000-80,000 anthropological artifacts (read: lots of mummies and skulls). But his dedication to naturalism is best exhibited in his portraits of beautiful women, dead and alive. Their facial features are shockingly realistic—so much so that World War I soldiers used to take postcard reproductions of Max’s ladies to the front line, says Frye curator Jo-Anne Birnie Danzker. “All these strange paintings” could provide some comfort, too.

For more on the exhibit, view the slideshow.

Gabriel von Max: Be-Tailed Cousins and Phantasms of the Soul is on display at the Frye through Oct 30.