Egon Schiele

(1890-1918)

Austria – Modern Art – Expressionism – Egon Schiele

Vita:

Even as a schoolboy, Egon Schiele painted on every occasion. His drawing teacher at the time recognized his talent and encouraged him. After his father gave his temporary blessing, his godfather took over the guardianship and wanted to force him to study engineering. However, Egon Schiele’s grades were too weak and so the later artist applied to the Academy of Fine Arts. After successfully passing the selection process, he was finally able to begin his desired training and get closer to his dream job. After only three years, Egon Schiele dropped out of his studies because he wanted to realize his artistic ideas very early on and this was precisely what did not meet with the understanding of Christian Griespenkerl, a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts and a painter who is also valued in the art scene . Shortly afterwards he founded the “Wiener Neukunstgruppe” with his fellow students and was introduced to the art of the secession. A large number of recognized artists were enthusiastic about his talent, including Gustav Klimt and Arthur Roessler. Another positive development for his status as an artist was made possible by influential art critics, who supported him financially and gave him commissions. In 1910 Egon Schiele decided to leave Vienna and moved to Krumau for the first time with his lover Wally Neuziel. After public rage about the wild marriage between the two and the artist began to draw young girls naked, the couple had to move on due to increasing criticism. The next destination was Neulengbach near Vienna. In 1912 Egon Schiele was accused of sexually abusing minors. This could not be sustained and he was sentenced to three days‘ arrest after his pre-trial detention. Shortly afterwards he returned to Vienna, where, with the help and support of Gustav Klimt, he was able to build on his earlier successes.

Work:

Egon Schiele is one of the most important visual artists of Viennese modernism. He developed his unmistakable unique style very early on. He created an intensive connection between the art of Art Nouveau and the ornamental structures with broken lines. The expressive colors and their admirable composition were characteristic of his works. In his oeuvre he paid particular attention to portraits, figure pictures and landscapes, which mostly emanated themes of love and loneliness, and life and death. In his later phase, immoral portraits of girls also followed, which even brought him to prison for a short time. The contorted bodies with overemphasized hands, which were the expressions of his personal experiences, were significant for his paintings.