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- Biography Schiele, son of a station master, was born in 1890 in Tulln, Lower Austria. From 1902, Schiele attended the Gymnasium (grammar school) in Klosterneuburg where the teachers soon started complaining about the fact that he drew during their lessons. Schiele was fourteen when he lost the father he adored. Egon’s uncle and godfather Leopold Czihaczek was appointed guardian. In the autumn of 1906, at the age of sixteen, Schiele passed the entrance examinations to the Vienna Academy of Fine Art. The ultra conservative painter of historical scenes, Christian Griepenkerl, in whose master classes Schiele began his studies, could summon up little understanding for his unconventional pupil. However, in his first year of studies, Schiele was to encounter Gustav Klimt, who proved to be a fatherly friend and the first person to encourage him. Schiele left the academy after three years and founded the „Neukunstgruppe“ (New Art Group), which was soon to become an established part of Viennese artistic life. His comrades-in-arms included Anton Faistauer, Franz Wiegele and Erwin Dominik Osen. In the spring of 1911, he moved to his mother’s birthplace –Krumau – which is where almost all his townscapes were painted. The residents of this small town were incensed when he employed young girls as nude models and, moreover, „lived in sin“ with the model Wally Neuzil. It was evidently this pressure that caused Schiele to leave Krumau in the autumn of 1911 and to settle in Neulengbach near Vienna. It was there in 1912 that Schiele was accused of seducing a girl below the age of consent; the case was later transferred to the district court in St. Pölten. However, Schiele was only sentenced to three days' imprisonment for distributing „indecent“ drawings. After settling in Vienna in 1912, Schiele met Edith Harms in 1914, whom he was later to marry. In March 1918, there was an exhibition by Schiele and the „Neukunstgruppe“ (New Art Group) in the Vienna Secession; this was to prove his first great success. In October 1918, the six-month pregnant Edith Schiele fell ill with the Spanish flu and died on 28th October. Schiele himself also contracted the Spanish flu. He died at 1 a.m. on 31st October 1918, aged 28. |
 Portrait of Egon Schiele. 1915. |
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