Egon Schiele

Biography

Egon Schiele was born in Tulln in 1890. He studied from 1906 to 1909 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna under Christian Griepenkerl with whom he later came to disagree. During that time Schiele’s work experienced the breakthrough transition from the more traditional approach in Austrian painting to new ones that he initially saw represented, above all, in Klimt’s work. Schiele, who in 1909 had founded together with various artists the Neukunstgruppe (New Art Group), now demonstrated the will to break away from Art Nouveau; from that time on he turned more and more towards expressionism. After a short spell working for the Wiener Werkstätte he moved, in 1911, to Krumau. In 1915 he was married in Vienna and began his military service. Artistic and material success came to Schiele only in 1918. After the death of Klimt he became the model to follow for avant-garde Viennese painters. The press also began to assess his works favourably. However, Schiele died that year, three days after his wife, having contracted the Spanish flu. Today, Schiele’s work enjoys worldwide acclaim.