Schiele, Egon (1890-1918)
Portrait of the artist’s wife, Edith Schiele (Bildnis der Frau des Künstlers, Edith Schiele)
1918
Oil on canvas, 139.8 × 109.8 cm
Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna
“One evening Schiele was invited with his wife. She was completely covered by her messy blonde hair and shy insecurity,” writes a friend of the artist about the young couple. The two married in 1915, and three years later the expressionist painted his wife with a highly sensitive look. It will be his first painting to be shown in a museum. But the director of the Austrian State Gallery in the Belvedere finds it too “arts and crafts” and colorful, so Schiele reworks Edith‘s clothing in muted tones. In 2018, the original version can be reconstructed in the course of painting technique studies. The reconstruction is compared to the current version here. (Belvedere)
See also:
• Schiele, Edith (1893-1918)