Egon Schiele beat Adolf Hitler for a place in the Vienna Academy of Art but died of flu before career fulfilled

The Austrian artist Egon Schiele was struck by a tragedy when his wife died in 1918. His own death followed just days later

Egon Schiele’s Self-Portrait with Physalis painted in 1912.

Austrian artist Egon Schiele was despondent. On October 28, 1918, his pregnant wife Edith had died after contracting the Spanish flu. To cope with the loss of both his partner and his unborn child, Schiele did what he did best and drew pictures of his late wife. They would be his last works. By October 31, 1918, a century ago today, he too had succumbed to the disease.

It was a sad end to a brief but promising career and one that was on an upswing at the time. In his mere 28 years of life, the artist produced thousands of drawings and paintings. His works were also very influential in the Expressionist movement. Schiele pushed boundaries and defied art conventions. His paintings, many of which featured distorted human figures, were often sexually charged and confronting and he also courted controversy in his personal life.

Born in Tulln, 30km northwest of Vienna, in Austria, on June 12, 1890, he was the son of the station master. As a youth he was obsessed with railways, filling sketchbooks with intricately drawn trains. His father hoped the obsession would make his son a good station master but at school his teachers recognised his artistic talent.

Austrian artist Egon Schiele in a circa 1910 image.

When Schiele’s father died in 1905 from syphilis the 15-year-old was deeply affected. Many of his works dwelt on death, pain or twisted depictions of sexuality. He also turned from drawing trains to self-portraits, examining his own psychological turmoil.

Despite largely failing as a student at school and having to repeat a year, his artistic talent gained him entry to the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Arts and Crafts) in Vienna, where famous artist Gustav Klimt had studied. But one of his teachers there complained that Schiele had “too much talent” and he was sent to Vienna’s Academy of Fine arts, the youngest student ever enrolled there, at the age of 16. According to records he was accepted over another candidate — Adolf Hitler.

But Schiele soon rankled at the conservatism of the Academy. In 1907 he sought out Klimt, whose work Schiele admired, hoping to learn more from the great artist. Klimt was the leader of the Vienna Sezessionist (Secessionist) group, who had made a break from the conservative styles of the Academy. He was greatly impressed by the teenager’s talent and became a mentor and friend, buying some of Schiele’s works, organising models and finding him connections in the art world. It led to Schiele’s first inclusion in a Sezessionist exhibition in 1908.

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In 1909 he left the Academy and got together with other disgruntled former students to form the Neukunstgruppe (New Art Group). Freed from the constraints of the Academy and exposed to works by other artists including Oscar Kokoschka, Edvard Munch and Jan Toorop, Schiele’s works became more avant-garde.

In 1910 he began painting more nudes, which became increasingly explicit. Among his models was his sister Gertrude, with whom he had a close relationship when they were younger. He also hired prostitutes and in 1911 met one named Valerie (Wally) Neuzil who became his live-in lover, causing a scandal.

Egon Schiele's work Self-portrait With Hands On Chest, 1910.

Seeking an escape from Vienna, Schiele and Neuzil moved to the rural town of Neulengbach, 35km west of Vienna in 1912. One day a teenage runaway camapproached the couple asking if they could take her to her grandmother in Vienna. When they arrived the girl ran away back home to Neulengbach, but her father concocted charges that Schiele had seduced her.

When police came to arrest him they found his home filled with explicit art. The seduction charge didn’t stick but Schiele spent time in prison because his art was displayed in a place where the children who visited his home could see it. He spent 24 days behind bars, using the time to produce artworks about being locked away. It didn’t harm his career, he had solo exhibitions in Munich in 1913 and Paris in 1914.

While in Vienna in 1914 he fell in love with Edith Harms and married her in 1915. Schiele hoped to maintain his relationship with Neuzil but the former prostitute didn’t like the idea of being his mistress. She never saw him again.

Just four days after his marriage he was called up for service in WWI, but he served his time guarding Russian prisoners of war. After his release from service in 1917 he returned to Vienna and had a burst of creativity. In 1918 50 of his works were included in a Sezessionist exhibition. But just as he was beginning to sell more of his works, for higher prices, and received more commissions, tragedy struck. The flu pandemic that killed both Schiele and his wife, killed millions of others around the world.