Egon Schiele (1890–1918) was born on 12th June 1980 at Tulln railway station, the third child of Adolf Schiele (1850–1905), who worked as station master, and his wife Marie Schiele (1862–1935). The present photograph was most likely taken in Tulln, and shows the little boy at the age of one or two. Schiele spent the first ten years of his life in Tulln. The railway station, where his father kept an apartment provided by the railroad company, was fascinating to Schiele from a young age, as
Tulln Railway Station illustrates. Schiele’s mother and sisters recall that the train station was Egon’s favorite playground. Already as a child, he captured his impressions of the railway operations on paper. From the dining room, he drew approaching and leaving trains, and once scattered his drawings all across the apartment. He further owned a few toy train sets, see
Melanie, Gertrude and Egon Schiele. Later, he would often travel by train, for instance to Trieste, Munich, Innsbruck, Salzburg, Altmünster and the Wörthersee.
LScr, 2024
