Egon Schiele, untitled

In 1896, the three siblings Melanie (1886–1974), Gertrude (1894–1981) and Egon Schiele (1890–1918) were photographed together. This portrait of Egon represents a section of a second version of the afore-mentioned photograph Melanie, Gertrude and Egon Schiele, from which the portraits of the other siblings have been removed. Compared to the extant portrait of all three, the then six-year-old Egon appears much more cheerful here; he is looking at the camera with a mischievous smile, his left hand clutching a toy train. This toy is symbolic, as the little boy was fascinated with trains. Seeing as he was born at Tulln Railway Station, he was surrounded by locomotives, and created countless drawings of trains from a young age, for instance Approaching Train. The motif of the railway was not only decisive for his childhood; Schiele himself would later ascribe his roving spirit to his “railman blood”.

LVD, 2024