LEOPOLD MUSEUM: 6TH EGON SCHIELE SYMPOSIUM DEVOTED TO SCHIELE AND LITERATURE

21.11.2025

The Leopold Museum’s Director Hans-Peter Wipplinger and Senior Curator Kerstin Jesse welcomed guests to this year’s Egon Schiele Symposium at the museum’s auditorium. The sixth of its kind, the event has become something of an institution. The 2025 symposium focused on Egon Schiele in the context of literature. The event kicked off with a performance by the theater and film actor Christoph Luser, who read texts by and about Egon Schiele, followed by scientific lectures delivered by Anna-Katharina Gisbertz, Simone Hönigl, Kerstin Jesse, Stefan Kutzenberger, Karin Rhein, Caroline Rosenauer, Marina Silenzi and Eva Werth.

The 6th Egon Schiele Symposium, held on Thursday, 13th November 2025, trained the spotlight on literature. The painterly oeuvre produced by the eminent Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele (1890–1918) was closely linked to his affinity for language, writing, poetry and literature. In 1910, the barely 20-year-old artist wrote expressive poems which are surprising not only due to the unique lettering but also on account of the imaginative neologisms he created. Using his idiosyncratic artist’s language, Schiele wrote numerous letters, some of them lyrical, and showed a keen interest in books, ranging from literary works and poetry volumes to factual books and art publications. The artist’s penchant for lyric poetry and the written word, as well as his library, parts of which have survived to this day, afforded the opportunity to explore this emphasis on literature and the artist’s contacts with writers and publishers.

“The 2025 Egon Schiele Symposium afforded a comprehensive overview of the current state of research into the theme of Egon Schiele and Literature. The now well-established Schiele conference at the Leopold Museum allows us to keep shedding new light on the life and oeuvre of the internationally renowned Expressionist, and to focus on aspects of his art and network that have hitherto been given little attention. The aim of this year’s symposium was to honor Schiele’s affinity for literature and to thus start a new, important chapter in the research devoted to this world-famous Austrian artist.”

Hans-Peter Wipplinger, Director of the Leopold Museum

“The 6th Egon Schiele Symposium explored Egon Schiele’s ties with writers and publishers, and retraced his comprehensive book collection. A captivating reading by the famous actor Christoph Luser was followed by eight scientific lectures delivered by researchers from Germany, France, Switzerland and Austria, among them Anna-Katharina Gisbertz, Karin Rhein, Marina Silenzi, Stefan Kutzenberger and Eva Werth.”

Kerstin Jesse, Senior Curator, Leopold Museum

THE LECTURES:

Kerstin Jesse, Senior Curator at the Leopold Museum, kicked off the series of lectures with her contribution entitled “The many books, pictures and sculptures […] emanate a strange atmosphere which envelops me [….]”, in which she focused on Egon Schiele’s Library. Jesse updated the audience on the current research findings on Schiele’s book collection. While the art historian gave insights into the challenges researchers face when trying to piece the artist’s library back together, she was also able to introduce several hitherto unknown books which were verifiably part of his collection. Jesse presented a previously unpublished sketch- and notebook used by Egon Schiele between 1912-1914 from a private collection, which was acquired in 2023 by the Leopold Museum, and includes a list of 21 books.

In her lecture “The Monumentality of Psychological Characteristics”, Simone Hönigl, research assistant at the Leopold Museum’s Egon Schiele Documentation Center, analyzed Egon Schiele’s Portraits of Writers. Schiele created numerous likenesses of personalities from the art and culture scene, including collectors and fellow artists, composers, as well as authors and literary figures. Among them were writers including Robert Scheu, Franz Blei, Robert Müller, Max Roden, Arthur Roessler and Hugo Sonnenschein, as well as his fellow artists and writers Ernst Wagner and Albert Paris Gütersloh. Hönigl introduced the 13 authors Schiele verifiably captured in portraits, and highlighted the interconnections within this network.

Eva Werth, literary scholar and lecturer at the Université Gustave Eiffel Paris-Est, focused on Embedding Egon Schiele’s Writings into the Literary and Art Historical Context of His Time. With a view to Schiele’s double talent as a visual and literary artist, Werth analyzed whether the paratactical style Schiele used for his poems can also be applied to his landscapes.

In her lecture Against the Zeitgeist? Pictorial and Word Art by Leopold Liegler and Egon Schiele, the literary scholar Anna-Katharina Gisbertz, a professor at the University of Mannheim, explored Schiele’s acquaintance and exchange with the writer and critic Leopold Liegler (1882–1949). Working for the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Liegler supported Schiele especially between 1914 and 1917 as one of his first patrons. Based on Liegler’s entry in the commemorative publication Erinnerungsbuch Egon Schiele (1943), Gisbertz investigated their relationship as well as Liegler’s specific notion of Schiele’s artistry in connection with the era’s perception of genius.

The art historian Karin Rhein, curator of the collection of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, devoted her contribution “Decent or Indecent Art?” Egon Schiele and the Eponymous Publication by Ernst Wilhelm Bredt to the impact of the book Sittliche oder unsittliche Kunst. Eine historische Revision (1911) by the German art historian Ernst Wilhelm Bredt. As Rhein explained, Bredt’s publication provided culture- and art historical arguments in response to philosophical, theological and legal definitions of “decency”. According to Rhein, Egon Schiele and his companions were likely interested in the book on account of the author’s championing of the freedom of art and his opposition to the bourgeoisie’s ethics.

“An artist is primarily an intellectually gifted expressive”… or: Was Schiele a Dionysian Artist? was the title of Marina Silenzi’s lecture. The philosopher and lecturer at the University of Basel traced the connections between Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy and Schiele’s art. Nietzsche’s impact on the art movements of the early 20th century, especially on Expressionism, is undisputed. Silenzi attempted to analyze Schiele’s paintings under the prism of Nietzsche’s aesthetic and physical concepts. The Dionysian artist, propagated by Nietzsche, transformed the interpretative play of the body into an idealization of reality. In keeping with this concept, the extreme poses, gestures and distortions Schiele developed can be understood as a pictorial equivalent to a Dionysian esthetic experience.

Stefan Kutzenberger, literary scholar, lecturer at Vienna university and author, looked at Egon Schiele as a Literary Figure in his contribution Fictional Schiele – Schiele Fiction. Over recent years, Schiele has become somewhat of a literary hero. Kutzenberger demonstrated how Schiele has increasingly featured as a protagonist in literary works since the 2000s, appearing in books by authors including Lewis Crofts, Hilde Berger, Sophie Haydock, Patrick Karez and Christopher Moore. In his lecture, he focused on the artist’s literary staging – between genius, scandalous figure and a projection surface of male obsession – as well as on the different narrative perspectives used in the fictional works.

The art historian Caroline Rosenauer dedicated her lecture to The Fabrics in Egon Schiele’s Paintings. The Influence and Use of Textile Designs as Artistic Expression. Clothing and fabrics often appeared as an important artistic and compositional element in Schiele’s paintings. The Vienna Secession and the Wiener Werkstätte had a decisive influence on the Austrian textile industry in the early 20th century, and Schiele drew inspiration from the fabric designs created in this environment. His close ties to Gustav Klimt and Eduard Wimmer-Wisgrill, who headed the Wiener Werkstätte’s fashion department, meant that Schiele came into contact with textile designs that subsequently impacted on his pictorial language.

THE LECTURERS

Christoph Luser studied acting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. From 2000, he was an ensemble member at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, appearing in productions by directors including Thomas Bischof, Jürgen Gosch and Peter Wittenberg. In 2002, he moved to the Münchner Kammerspiele, and guested at the Vienna Burgtheater and the Schauspielhaus Graz. In 2019/20, Luser moved from the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg to become a permanent ensemble member of the Vienna Burgtheater. Luser has starred in various TV programs, such as Tatort, Kommissar Rex, Die Chefin, Vienna Blood, Der Schatten and Der Pass, as well as in cinema films, including Was nützt die Liebe in Gedanken (2004), Der Knochenmann (2009), Spuren des Bösen (2014) und Wenn das Licht gefriert (2024). Since 2024, he has played the double role of “Good Companion/Devil” in Jedermann at the Salzburg Festival, which earned him the Nestroy Theater Prize in 2024 for best supporting role.

Kerstin Jesse studied art history at Vienna University, at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, and at Freie Universität Berlin. In 2008, she wrote her diploma thesis on the Swiss artist Franz Gertsch and American Photo-Realism (Saarbrücken 2009). She has worked as research assistant at Vienna University, at the Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, and as an intern at Christie’s. From 2008, she acted as assistant curator, and from 2016 as curator for 20th-century art at the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, where she was in charge of Egon Schiele agendas, and curated the exhibition Egon Schiele. The Making of a Collection (2018). Since 2023, she has worked as Senior Curator at the Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung. She is active as a lecturer and jury member, has published numerous essays, has worked independently as a researcher and curator for various exhibition and research projects, and has contributed to catalogues raisonnés in the area of Classical Modernism. Her interest emphases include European avant-garde art after 1900, as well as European and American art from the fin-de-siècle into the 1960s.

Simone Hönigl studied art history at Vienna University. In 2016/17, she worked for the Ernst Fuchs Museum at the Otto Wagner Villa (i.a. digitalization of the estate of the artist who died in 2015); from 2019, she has worked as a research assistant at the Leopold Museum (Egon Schiele Documentation Center). Since 2023, she has been working there as a research associate with an emphasis on project management and the restructuring of the Egon Schiele Autograph Database.

Eva Werth is a German comparative literature scholar, aesthetics researcher and Maître de Conférence (lecturer) of art studies and German philology at the Université Gustave Eiffel Paris-Est. She wrote her doctoral thesis on Egon Schiele “Illumination mutuelle”: des rapports entre littérature et peinture chez Egon Schiele (1890–1918) in 2006. For years, she has been exploring the interactions between Schiele’s literary and visual production. Her other research emphases include the cultural transfer in Modernist and metropolitan discourse (Paris, Vienna, Berlin) around 1900. In 2011, she was a co-founder of the Egon Schiele Jahrbuch, and has acted as co-editor of the annual publication ever since. Since 2012, she has acted as co-organizer of the Egon Schiele Research Symposium, and since 2015 has been a board member of the Egon Schiele Research Society.

Anna-Katharina Gisbertz studied German philology, comparative literature and history in Mainz, Munich and St. Louis (MO), and wrote her doctoral thesis on Stimmung – Leib – Sprache. Eine Konfiguration in der Wiener Moderne (Munich 2009). From 2006–18, she worked as research assistant at the University of Mannheim, and qualified as a professor in 2017 with her work on the experience of time in contemporary generational novels, titled Die andere Gegenwart (Winter 2028). She has co-edited numerous publications on Viennese Modernism and on literature of the 20th and 21st centuries. She has acted as guest lecturer at several different universities, including Vienna, Ljubljana, TU Dortmund and Fontys University Tilburg. Since 2019, she has worked as supernumerary professor at the University of Mannheim, and has published numerous articles on aesthetics, cultural theory and gender studies.

Karin Rhein studied art history, sociology and theater studies in Berlin and Strasbourg. She wrote her doctoral thesis in 2003 on the evolution and characteristics of 19th-century German oriental painting. She worked at the Bucerius Kunst Forum in Hamburg and the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, and did freelance work for the Hamburger Kunsthalle. From 2009 to 2022, she headed the prints department at the Georg Schäfer Museum in Schweinfurt, and acted as deputy museum director. Since 2022, she has worked at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, where she is head of the collection of decorative arts, and since 2024 also of the museum of applied arts and the design collection. Her research emphases are on 19th-century German oriental painting as well as on the history of art and culture in the German-speaking realm of the 19th and early 20th centuries. She has published numerous essays and curated exhibitions on artists including Max Slevogt, Ferdinand Hodler and Egon Schiele.

Marina Silenzi studied philosophy with a focus on aesthetics as well as on discourse theory and critique in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Various research projects have taken her to Vienna and Berlin on ÖAD and DAAD scholarships. She was a doctoral candidate at the University of Basel on a Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship, earning her doctorate in 2020 with the monograph Krankheit und Gesundheit in der späten Philosophie Friedrich Nietzsches. She is the author of numerous publications on Nietzsche, on art and body, as well as on the philosophy of Judith Butler. She currently works as an associate researcher and lecturer at the University of Basel. Silenzi’s research focuses include the figure of the “Dionysian artist” as the ideal of health in the last period of Nietzsche’s work, as well as his concept of the body.

Stefan Kutzenberger studied comparative linguistics, and works as an author and university lecturer in Vienna. His close ties to the Leopold Museum since its foundation in 2001 have seen him take on various roles for the museum, including that of curator. He has received multiple awards for his literary work, and has embarked on reading tours on four continents. In 2018, he held the position of writer-in-residence in Wels, represented Austria at the European Literature Night in New York in 2021, acted as writer-in-residence at Villa Sträuli in Winterthur in 2023 as well as at Anita Pichler’s Venice apartment in 2024. That year further saw the premiere of his play Diven im Dilemma.

Caroline Rosenauer studies art history at Vienna University and is currently writing her master thesis on the topic Die Stoffe in Egon Schieles Bildern – Der Einfluss und die Verwendung von Stoffdesigns als künstlerischer Ausdruck. She has worked as an art educator for the Leopold Museum since 2022, and since 2024 also for the Belvedere and the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Her research emphasis is on Viennese Modernism, with a focus on the era’s textile designs. For the duration of the Leopold Museum’s exhibition Poetry of the Ornament – The Backhausen Archives, she conceived and headed print workshops for adults, offering them a creative approach to historic fabric patterns.

THE CONFERENCE VOLUMES PUBLISHED SO FAR:

• 1st Egon Schiele Symposium at the Leopold Museum
  Conference Volume on the 1st Egon Schiele Symposium at the Leopold Museum
  29th and 30th September 2016, Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, 2017
  Editor: Hans-Peter Wipplinger
  Authors: Bazon Brock, Carla Carmona Escalera, Ralph Gleis, Matthias Haldemann, Allan Janik, Stefan Kutzenberger, Elisabeth Leopold, Sonja Niederacher, Franz Smola
  152 pages, 66 illustrations, out of print!

• Egon Schiele. Expression and Lyric
  Conference Volume on the 2nd Egon Schiele Symposium at the Leopold Museum
  9th and 10th September 2017, Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, 2018
  Editors: Verena Gamper, Hans-Peter Wipplinger
  Authors: Daniela Finzi, Verena Gamper, Kerstin Jesse, Jane Kallir, Pamela Kort, Diethard Leopold, Elisabeth Leopold, Rainer Metzger, Helena Pereña, Franz Smola, Eva Werth, Hans-Peter Wipplinger, Norbert Christian Wolf
  228 pages, 146 illustrations, EUR 14.90, available at the Leopold Museum Shop

• Egon Schiele. Dialogue and Staging
  Conference Volume on the 3rd Egon Schiele Symposium at the Leopold Museum
  10th November 2019, Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, 2020
  Editors: Verena Gamper, Hans-Peter Wipplinger
  Authors: Gemma Blackshaw, Agathe Boruszczak, Sandra Maria Dzialek, Verena Gamper, Stefanie Jahn, Eric Kandel, Elisabeth von Samsonow, Patrick Werkner, Hans-Peter Wipplinger
  144 pages, 108 illustrations, EUR 14.90, available at the Leopold Museum Shop

• Egon Schiele. Milieus and Perspectives
  Conference Volume on the 4th Egon Schiele Symposium at the Leopold Museum
  3rd December 2021, Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, 2022
  Editors: Verena Gamper, Hans-Peter Wipplinger
  Authors: Christian Bauer, Gemma Blackshaw, Elisabeth Dutz, Sandra Maria Dzialek, Verena Gamper, Adam Kaasa, Jane Kallir, Elisabeth Leopold, Karin Maierhofer, Franz Smola, Sandra Tretter, Hans-Peter Wipplinger
  176 pages, 140 illustrations, EUR 14.90, available at the Leopold Museum Shop

• Egon Schiele. Networking and Friendships
  Conference Volume on the 5th Egon Schiele Symposium at the Leopold Museum
  9th November 2023, Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, 2024
  Editors: Kerstin Jesse, Hans-Peter Wipplinger
  Authors: Philipp Blom, Régine Bonnefoit, Tobias Burg, Ulrike Emberger, Laura Feurle, Simone Hönigl, Kerstin Jesse, Alexander Klee, Alexandra Matzner, Hans-Peter Wipplinger
  19.5 x 24.5 cm, 200 pages, 96 illustrations, EUR 14.90, available at the Leopold Museum Shop
  This publication is a bilingual edition in German and English.

Information on the 5th Egon Schiele Symposium 2025

PREVIEW:

• Egon Schiele and Literature
  Conference Volume on the 6th Egon Schiele Symposium at the Leopold Museum
  13th November 2025, Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, 2026 (planned release date)
  Editors: Kerstin Jesse, Hans-Peter Wipplinger
  Authors: Anna-Katharina Gisbertz, Simone Hönigl, Stefan Kutzenberger, Kerstin Jesse, Karin Rhein, Caroline Rosenauer, Marina Silenzi and Eva Werth, including the texts read by the actor Christoph Luser
  19.5 x 24.5 cm, available upon release at the Leopold Museum Shop
  The volume will be published as a bilingual edition in German and English.

Information on the 6th Egon Schiele Symposium 2025

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