Egon Schiele Biography
Egon Schiele (1890–1918) is one of the leading figures of Austrian Expressionism. Although he had a short career, Schiele's prodigious work helped start Modernism. His self-portraits, figurative paintings, and portraits that communicate a deeply radical aesthetic are what he is best known for.
In 1906 Schiele enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, where he began his artistic career. However, in 1909, Schiele left the school to found the Neukunstgruppe, or New Art Group, with former classmates who shared his disdain for the school's academic policies. During this period he met Gustav Klimt, Schiele's future mentor and sponsor; he helped him take part in the Vienna Kunstschau in 1909. Here Schiele met merchants and patrons who would support his career. Schiele's subjects began to become more expressive and exaggerated in this period. His portraits and self-portraits also began to have sexual and psychological overtones.
Schiele's subjects, often outlined and then filled in with ink or paint, are dynamic and tormented, often patently grotesque and erotic. In 1911, the artist held his first exhibitions in Vienna and Munich. After opening his own studio in Vienna in 1912, a very productive period began for him, exhibiting both nationally and internationally. After only a decade on the scene, Schiele dies of the Spanish flu, but not before the Vienna Secession of 1918, which prominently exhibited over 50 works of art and brought him much success and acclaim.
The Egon Schiele-Museum in Tulln, the Leopold Museum in Vienna and the Osterreichische Galerie Belvedere in Vienna currently house the largest collections of his art.
