Egon Schiele: voluptuary and provocateur

Egon Schiele painted about three hundred paintings in his short 28 years. The number of drawings is in the thousands. Most are extremely provocative: in 1912, the artist’s work was declared pornographic, and he himself was sentenced to prison for immoral behavior and seduction of a minor.

Nothing strange, given Egon Schiele’s predilection for the female sex and friendship with the no less loving mentor Gustav Klimt. He had a strong influence on the work of a young student. This can be seen especially well in the early works of Schiele, who literally adopted the style, writing technique, principles of compositional construction, and other artistic techniques from the teacher. By the age of 19, he acquired his own style of work, and Klimt became his first customer.
Egon Schiele was in awe of the nude. Drawing her tirelessly, he became obsessed. It was rumored that the young man studied the female body on his own younger sister Gertrude, and she did not mind. With his “funny pictures” Schiele traded well, he got regular customers and patrons. Many of his colleagues turned away from him because of this. Egon himself was sure they were just jealous.

In the workshop of the outrageous artist, begging young maidens often lived, moonlighting as models and not only them. But even such a womanizer had a great love Walburg Neuzil, who for four years was his muse. It is believed that it was during the period of an affair with her that Schiele created his best works, imbued with sensuality and unbridled passion. No wonder, because Valli was as indefatigable in the craft of the model, as Egon was in painting.
Hypothetically, nothing prevented the lovers from getting married, but the artist was embarrassed by the social status of the girl. Having broken with Neuzil, he married a more wealthy and decent neighbor, Edith Harms. He also painted her, but in these paintings and drawings there was not even a quarter of that all-consuming, off-scale passion that the maestro put into Valli’s portraits.

If the Spanish flu epidemic had not ended Egon Schiele’s life, who knows, his further works would have remained just as attractive …














