Egon Schiele

Artist Biography

Egon Schiele was born June 12, 1890, in Tulln, Austria. He enrolled in the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste in Vienna, where he studied painting and drawing but was frustrated by the school's conservatism. In 1907, he met Gustav Klimt, who encouraged him and influenced his work. Upon Klimt's invitation, Schiele exhibited his art, prints and posters at the 1909 Vienna Kunstschau, where he encountered the work of Edvard Munch, Jan Toroop, Vincent Van Gogh, and others. By this time, Schiele had developed a personal expressionist portrait and landscape style and was receiving a number of portrait commissions from the Viennese intelligentsia.

Seeking isolation, Egon Schiele left Vienna in 1911 to live in several small villages; he concentrated increasingly on self-portraits and allegories of life, death, and sex and produced erotic watercolors. In 1912, he was arrested for "immortality" and "seduction" in his art, prints and posters; during his 24-day imprisonment, he executed a number of poignant watercolors and drawings. Schiele participated in various group exhibitions, including those of the Neukunstgruppe in Prague and Budapest; the Sonderbund, Cologne, in 1912; and several Secession shows in Munich, beginning in 1911.

In 1913, the Galerie Hans Goltz, Munich, mounted Schiele's first solo show. A solo exhibition of his work took place in Paris in 1914. The following year, Egon Schiele married Edith Harms and was drafted into the Austrian army. He painted prolifically and continued to exhibit during his military service. His solo show at the Vienna Secession of 1918 brought him critical acclaim and financial success for his art, prints and posters. He died several months later in Vienna, at age 28, on October 31, 1918, a victim of influenza, which had claimed his wife three days earlier.

Egon Schiele Art, Prints and Posters Collection