Egon Leo Adolf Ludwig Schiele (German:[ˈeːɡɔnˈʃiːlə]ⓘ; 12 June 1890 – 31 October 1918) was an Austrian Expressionistpainter. His work is noted for its intensity and its raw sexuality, and for the manyself-portraits the artist produced, including nude self-portraits. The twisted body shapes and the expressive line that characterize Schiele's paintings and drawings mark the artist as an early exponent ofExpressionism.Gustav Klimt, a figurative painter of the early 20th century, was amentor to Schiele.
Egon Leo Adolf Ludwig Schiele was born on 12 June 1890 inTulln,Lower Austria. His father, Adolf Schiele, the station master of the Tulln station in theAustrian State Railways, was born in 1851 inVienna to Karl Ludwig Schiele, a German fromBallenstedt and Aloisia Schimak; Egon's mother Marie, née Soukup, was born in 1861 inČeský Krumlov (Krumau) to Franz Soukup, a Czech father fromMirkovice, and Aloisia Poferl, aGerman Bohemian mother from Český Krumlov.[1][2] Schiele had three sisters, Elvira, Melanie and Gertrude.[3] Elvira died as a child ofcongenital syphilis.[3] Before the birth of Schiele his mother had suffered the still-births of three sons.[4]
According to family lore Adolf Schiele had contracted syphilis during his honeymoon inTrieste, when he had visited a brothel[4] after his new wife, scared of the consummation of the marriage, fled their bedroom. When the couple had sex a few days later her husband then passed on the disease to his wife.[4]
As a child, Schiele was fascinated by trains, and would spend many hours drawing them. Seeing Schiele's drawing as a detriment to his son's schoolwork, his father destroyed these sketchbooks.[citation needed]
Schiele senior was known to have had an interest in collecting minerals and butterflies and also liked to draw.[5] Schiele's family life was however deeply influenced by his father's illness and as the syphilis progressed it left him in a state of mental confusion and would oftentimes cast him into fits of rage.
When he was 11 years old, Schiele moved to the nearby city ofKrems (and later toKlosterneuburg) to attend secondary school. To those around him, Schiele was regarded as a strange child. Shy and reserved, he did poorly at school except in athletics and drawing,[6] and was usually in classes made up of younger pupils. He also displayed a sexual interest in his younger sister Gertrude (who was known asGerti), and his father once broke down the door of a locked room that Egon and Gerti were in to see what they were doing, only to discover them developing film. When he was sixteen he took the twelve-year-old Gerti by train toTrieste without permission and spent a night in a hotel room with her.[7]
When Schiele was 14 years old, his father died from syphilis, and the family that had been fairly wealthy were left impoverished. Before his death Schiele's father in a fit of insanity had burned the railway stocks he owned which would have helped out the family's economy. Schiele's elder sister Melanie became the sole breadwinner of the family when she was hired as a ticket clerk at the local railway station.
Schiele and his younger sister Gerti became wards of his uncle (by marriage to Schiele's paternal aunt Maria), Leopold Czihaczek, also a railway official.[2] Although he wanted Schiele to follow in his footsteps, and was distressed at his lack of interest in academia, he recognised Schiele's talent for drawing and allowed him a tutor, the artist Ludwig Karl Strauch. Eventually the uncle renounced his guardianship of Schiele and Schiele became dependent on financial support from his mother to continue his art studies. This support was cut off due to his sister Melanie objecting to the expense of it and it caused a rift in the family.[citation needed]
In 1906 Schiele applied to theKunstgewerbeschule (School of Arts and Crafts) inVienna, whereGustav Klimt had once studied. Within his first year there, Schiele was sent, at the insistence of several faculty members, to the more traditionalAkademie der Bildenden Künste in Vienna in 1906. His main teacher at the academy wasChristian Griepenkerl, a painter whose strict doctrine and ultra-conservative style frustrated and dissatisfied Schiele so much that he left after three years.[citation needed]
In 1907, Schiele sought out Gustav Klimt, who generously mentored younger artists. Klimt took a particular interest in the young Schiele, buying his drawings, offering to exchange them for some of his own, arranging models for him and introducing him to potential patrons. He also introduced Schiele to theWiener Werkstätte, the arts and crafts workshop connected with theSecession. Schiele's earliest works between 1907 and 1909 contain strong similarities with those of Klimt,[8] as well as influences fromArt Nouveau.[9] In 1908 Schiele had his first exhibition, inKlosterneuburg. Schiele left the academy in 1909, after completing his third year, and founded theNeukunstgruppe ("New Art Group") with other dissatisfied students. In his early years, Schiele was strongly influenced byKlimt andKokoschka. Although imitations of their styles, particularly with the former, are noticeably visible in Schiele's first works, he soon evolved his own distinctive style.
Portrait ofAnton Peschka 1909Bedroom in Neulengbach, 1911
Klimt invited Schiele to exhibit some of his work at the 1909 ViennaKunstschau, where he encountered the work ofEdvard Munch,Jan Toorop, andVincent van Gogh among others. Once free of the academy's constraints, Schiele began to explore not only the human form, but also sexuality. Schiele's work was already daring, but it went a bold step further with the inclusion of Klimt's decorative eroticism and figurative distortions. He also painted tributes toVan Gogh'sSunflowers as well as landscapes and still lifes.[10]
In 1910, Schiele began experimenting with nudes, and within a year a definitive style featuring emaciated, sickly-coloured figures, often with strong sexual overtones, began to emerge. Schiele also began painting and drawing children.[11]
Schiele began to participate in what would be numerous group exhibitions, including those of the Neukunstgruppe in Prague in 1910 andBudapest in 1912; theSonderbund,Cologne, in 1912; and several Secessionist shows inMunich, beginning in 1911. In 1911, at the age of twenty-one, Schiele met the seventeen-year-oldWalburga (Wally) Neuzil, who lived with him in Vienna and served as a model for some of his most striking paintings. She had previously modelled forGustav Klimt and might have been one of his mistresses. Schiele and Wally wanted to escape what they perceived as the claustrophobic Viennese milieu, and went to the small town ofČeský Krumlov (Krumau) in southernBohemia. Krumau was the birthplace of Schiele's mother; today it is the site of a museum dedicated to Schiele. Despite Schiele's family connections in Krumau, he and his lover were driven out of the town by the residents, who strongly disapproved of theirbohemian lifestyle, including his alleged employment of the town's teenage girls as models. Progressively, Schiele's work grew more complex and thematic, and he eventually would begin dealing with themes such as death and rebirth.[12]
Schiele's drawing of his prison cell in Neulengbach
Together the couple moved toNeulengbach, 35 km (22 mi) west of Vienna, seeking inspirational surroundings and an inexpensive studio in which to work. As had been the case in the capital, young people and teenagers gathered in Schiele's new studio in Neulengbach. Schiele's way of life aroused much animosity among the town's inhabitants, and in April 1912 he was arrested under suspicion of kidnapping and seducing a girl of 13.[13][14]
When the police came to his studio to place Schiele under arrest, they seized more than a hundred drawings which they considered pornographic. Schiele was imprisoned while awaiting his trial. When his case was brought before a judge, the charges were dropped, but the artist was found guilty of exhibiting erotic drawings in a place accessible to children. In court, the judge burned one of the drawings ("depicting a very young girl dressed only above the waist"[15]) over a candle flame. The twenty-one days he had already spent in custody were taken into account, and he was sentenced to a further three days' imprisonment. While in prison, Schiele created a series of paintings depicting his jail cell.
Self portrait
In 1913, theGalerie Hans Goltz, Munich, mounted Schiele's first solo show. A solo exhibition of his work took place inParis in 1914.[16]
Edith Schiele in a Striped Dress, Seated, 1915Leopold Museum
In 1914, Schiele glimpsed the sisters Edith and Adéle Harms, who lived with their parents across the street from his studio in the Viennese district of Hietzing, 101 Hietzinger Hauptstraße. They were amiddle-class family andProtestant by faith; their father was a masterlocksmith. In 1915, Schiele chose to marry the more socially acceptable Edith, but had apparently expected to continue his relationship with Wally. When he explained the situation to Wally, she left him immediately and never saw him again. This abandonment led him to paintDeath and the Maiden, where Wally's portrait is based on a previous pairing, but Schiele's is newly struck. (In February 1915, Schiele wrote a note to his friendArthur Roessler stating: "I intend to get married, advantageously. Not to Wally."[17]) Despite some opposition from the Harms family, Schiele and Edith were married on 17 June 1915, the anniversary of the wedding of Schiele's parents.[18]
Photograph of Egon Schiele, 1910s
Although Schiele avoided conscription for almost a year,World War I now began to shape his life and work. Three days after his wedding, Schiele was ordered to report for active service in the army where he was initially stationed inPrague. Edith came with him and stayed in a hotel in the city, while Egon lived in an exhibition hall with his fellow conscripts. They were allowed by Schiele's commanding officer to see each other occasionally.[19][20]
During the war, Schiele's paintings became larger and more detailed. His military service gave him limited time, and much of his output consisted of linear drawings of scenery and military officers. Around this time, Schiele also began experimenting with the themes of motherhood and family.[16] His wife Edith was the model for most of his female figures, but during the war (due to circumstance) many of his sitters were male. From 1915, Schiele's female nudes became fuller in figure, and many were deliberately illustrated with a lifeless doll-like appearance.[21]
Despite his military service, Schiele was still exhibiting in Berlin. He also had successful shows inZürich,Prague, andDresden. His first duties consisted of guarding and escorting Russian prisoners. Because of his weak heart and his excellent handwriting, Schiele was eventually given a job as a clerk in a POW camp near the town of Mühling. There, he was allowed to draw and paint imprisoned Russian officers; his commander, Karl Moser (who assumed that Schiele was a painter and decorator when he first met him), even gave him a disused store room to use as a studio. Since Schiele was in charge of the food stores in the camp, he and Edith could enjoy food beyond rations.[22]
1918 poster Vienna Secession
Schiele did everything he could to get out of military service. In January 1917 he was transferred to a military supply depot inVienna and given no particular responsibilities. He was again able to focus on his artistic career and his output was prolific. His work reflected the maturity of an artist in full command of his talents.[23] Schiele was invited to participate in the 49thVienna Secession exhibition held in 1918. Schiele had fifty works accepted for this exhibition, and they were displayed in the main hall. He also designed a poster for the exhibition. The composition was reminiscent of theLast Supper, with a portrait of himself in the place ofChrist. The show was a triumphant success. As a result, prices for Schiele's drawings increased and he received many portrait commissions.[24]
In the autumn of 1918, theSpanish flupandemic reached Vienna. Edith, who was six months pregnant, died from the disease on 28 October. Schiele, very sick and weak, was transferred from the couple's home to his in-laws' house. Due to fear of contagion, visitors would communicate with Schiele from afar by way of a mirror which was set up on the threshold of his room and the parlour.[4] Among Schiele's last visitors were his mother Marie and sister Melanie.
Schiele died three days after his wife. He was 28 years old. During the three days between their deaths, Schiele drew a few sketches of Edith.[25]
Jane Kallir has described Schiele's work as grotesque, erotic, pornographic, or disturbing, with a focus on sex, death, and discovery. He focused on portraits of others as well as himself. In his later years, while he still worked often with nudes, they were done in a more realist fashion.[16] From a young age, Schiele drew with 'manic fluency'.[26]
Art critic Martin Gayford wrote inThe Spectator: 'He [Schiele] found his distinctive style very early. His entire oeuvre is that of a young man; most of the work in the first of the two rooms of this densely packed little exhibition dates from 1910 to 1911, when Schiele (1890–1918) was just 20. That helps to explain some tendencies: a half-disgusted preoccupation with sexuality and a similarly queasy fascination with examining his naked self. The male figures mainly seem to have been modelled by the artist, though it is hard to be certain since the head is often not included.'[26]
Kallir and scholar Gerald Izenberg regard Schiele as fluid in sexuality and gender. Kallir says Schiele was "struggling with his own sexual feelings and gender norms" during a historical period of shifting gender expectations, theearly women's movement, andcriminalization of homosexuality. Some critics in the 21st century read his artwork asqueer.[27][28]
A less known fact about Schiele's career is that, during his studies at the School of Arts and Crafts in Vienna, he explored sculpture and created a number of small-scale clay and plaster sculptures.[29]
Schiele was the subject of the 1980 biographical filmExcess and Punishment (akaEgon Schiele – Exzess und Bestrafung), originating in Germany with a European cast that explores Schiele's artistic demons leading up to his early death. The film was directed byHerbert Vesely and starsMathieu Carrière as Schiele,Jane Birkin as his early artistic muse Wally Neuzil, Christine Kaufman as his wife, Edith Harms, and Kristina Van Eyck as her sister, Adele Harms. Also in 1980, theArts Council of Great Britain produced a documentary film,Schiele in Prison, which looked at the circumstances of Schiele's imprisonment and the veracity of his diary.[30] In 2016 another biographical film was released,Egon Schiele: Death and the Maiden (German:Egon Schiele: Tod und Mädchen).[31]
Joanna Scott's 1990 novelArrogance was based on Schiele's life and makes him the main figure. His life was also depicted in a theatrical dance production by Stephan Mazurek calledEgon Schiele, presented in May 1995, for whichRachel's, an Americanpost-rock group, composed a score titledMusic for Egon Schiele.[32] ForThe Featherstonehaughs contemporary dance company,Lea Anderson choreographedThe Featherstonehaughs Draw On The Sketchbooks Of Egon Schiele in 1997.[33] Glen Hansard, lead singer of Irish bandThe Frames, said (of writing the songSanta Maria) "...With Santa Maria, I was trying to write a song about Egon Schiele, and about him and his girlfriend, while they were both dying from Spanish flu...".[34]
The novelThe Flames (Doubleday, 2022)[35] by the British author Sophie Haydock[36] blends fact and fiction to tell a story of Schiele's four most significant muses. The book was named one of the best historical fiction novels of 2022 byThe Times.[37] The Italian translation,Le Fiamme (Salani, 2023),[38] won the Premio Letterario Edoardo Kihlgren award for a debut novel in 2024.[38]
Schiele's life and work have also been the subject of essays, including a discussion of his works by fashion photographerRichard Avedon in an essay on portraiture entitled "Borrowed Dogs."[39]Mario Vargas Llosa uses the work of Schiele as a conduit to seduce and morally exploit a main character in his 1997 novelThe Notebooks of Don Rigoberto.[40]Wes Anderson's filmThe Grand Budapest Hotel features a painting by Rich Pellegrino that is modeled after Schiele's style which, as part of a theft, replaces a so-called Flemish/Renaissance masterpiece, but is then destroyed by the angry owner when he discovers the deception.[41] The cover ofDavid Bowie's 1979Lodger album is inspired by Schiele's self-portraits[42] and an image of Schiele appears on the cover of the 2013 single "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)".[43]
Julia Jordan based her 1999 playTatjana in Color, which was produced off-Broadway at The Culture Project during the fall of 2003, on a fictionalization of the relationship between Schiele and the 12-year-old Tatjana von Mossig, the Neulengbach girl whose morals he was ultimately convicted of corrupting for allowing her to see his paintings.[44] The opening chapters ofGuy Mankowski's 2017 novelAn Honest Deceit were cited to be heavily influenced by Schiele's paintings; in particular his portrayals of his sister, Gertrude.[45]
Egon Schiele had among his admirers many Jewish art collectors whose collections were looted under the Nazis: in Germany from 1933, in Austria from the Anschluss of 1938, and in France from the German occupation of 1940. As a result, numerous restitution cases in the 21st century involve artworks by Schiele. Egon Schiele'sDead City, "Woman in Black Pinafore" (1911) and"Woman Hiding Her Face" (1912) were owned by Jewish cabaret artist and film starFritz Grünbaum before the Nazis deported him to the Dachau concentration camp.[48][49]Krumau (1916) was owned byDaisy Hellmann until it was seized by Nazis in 1942.[50][51] She first made a restitution claim in 1948 but her heirs were not able to recover the Schiele until 2002: Austria's Nazi looting organization, theVugesta, had auctionedKrumau at theDorotheum in Vienna on 24–27 February 1942, where theSanct Lucas gallery bought it on behalf ofWolfgang Gurlitt. In 1953, the City of Linz acquired it for the Neue Galerie in Linz.[52] The 1917 painting by Egon Schiele,Portrait of the Artist's Wife was owned byKarl Mayländer, a Jewish businessman in Vienna who was murdered inAuschwitz.Robin Lehman, the son ofRobert Lehman, boughtPortrait of the Artist's Wife (1917) in 1964 fromMarlborough Gallery in London.[53]Four Trees / Autumn Allée was owned byJosef Morgenstern who was arrested and deported to Auschwitz, where he was murdered.[54][55]
The art gallery of the Jewish art dealerLea Bondi Jaray, owner of the famousPortrait of Wally, was seized by the Nazis prior to his escaping to London.[56]Wilted Sunflowers, which had been owned by Jewish art collector Karl Grunwald and seized by Nazis in Strasbourg, was discovered after a private collector took it to Christies for evaluation in 2005.[57][58]Portrait of Wally, a 1912 portrait, was purchased byRudolf Leopold in 1954 and became part of the collection of theLeopold Museum when it was established by the Austrian government, purchasing more than 5,000 pieces that Leopold had owned. After a 1997–1998 exhibit of Schiele's work at theMuseum of Modern Art inNew York City, the painting was seized by order of theNew York County District Attorney and had been tied up in litigation by heirs of its former owner who claim that the painting wasNazi plunder and should be returned to them.[59][60]
The dispute was settled on 20 July 2010 and the picture subsequently purchased by theLeopold Museum for US$19 million.[61] In 2013, the museum sold three drawings by Schiele for £14 million atSotheby's London in order to settle the restitution claim over its 1914 Schiele paintingHouses by the Sea.[62] The most expensive,Liebespaar (Selbstdarstellung mit Wally) (1914/15), orTwo lovers (Self Portrait With Wally), raised the world auction record for a work on paper by the artist to £7.88 million.[63] On 21 June 2013Auctionata inBerlin sold a watercolor from 1916,Reclining Woman, at anonline auction for €1.827 million (US$2.418 million). This is a world record for the most expensive work of art ever sold at an online auction.[64][65][66]
^Roberts, Michael; Kiser, Amy (4 April 1996)."Playlist".Denver Music. Westword.com. Archived fromthe original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved2 October 2017.
^"Cases: Krumau, 1916 or 'Städtchen am Fluß' by Egon Schiele: Restitution decision by the City of Linz December 2002".www.lootedart.com. Retrieved25 March 2021.In late 2002, the City of Linz decided to return the painting 'Krumau, 1916' by Egon Schiele to the heirs of Daisy Hellmann. In June 1948, Daisy Hellmann – then residing in Sao Paolo, Brasil – deposited a claim for the restitution of the Schiele painting 'Krumau, 1916' at the Restitution Commission of the Provincial Court in Graz (Styria). Hellmann had to leave the painting behind when fleeing Vienna in 1938. The Schiele was looted by the Vugesta and put up for auction at the Dorotheum on 24–27 February 1942, where it was bought by the Viennese Sanct Lucas gallery for RM 1,800 on behalf of the art dealer Wolfgang Gurlitt. In 1953, the painting was among the group of works the City of Linz acquired from Gurlitt's collection for the 'Neue Galerie' in Linz.
^"REDISCOVERED MASTERPIECE"(PDF).Christies.In 1938, the year Hitler annexed Austria, Grünwald, who by this time had amassed a first rate collection of Austrian art, fled Vienna for France. Settling in Paris, the collector moved fifty paintings out of Austria, including the present work. Unfortunately, the Grünwald collection, including Wilted Sunflowers (Autumn Sun II), was confiscated in Strasbourg, where it had been placed in storage by Grünwald and sold at auction in 1942
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