Reproduction of Egon Schiele’s Painting Krumau Landscape (Town and River), 1916, undated

This photograph shows Egon Schiele’s painting Krumau Landscape (Town and River), which he created in 1916 during World War I. In “dearly paid hours” snatched away from his military duties, he painted the town on the river surrounded by a deeply green landscape (ESDA ID 2674). Dominated by a large house on the horizon, the work offers a distanced perspective of the town so often visited and captured by the artist. While Schiele had expressed his wish to sell his work Krumau Landscape to his long-standing benefactor and friend Erich Lederer (1896–1985), it was ultimately bought by the latter’s cousin Daisy Hellmann (1890–1977) and her husband Wilhelm (1883–1964). Owing to their Jewish background, the couple were forced to emigrate; the painting was seized and auctioned by the Gestapo, and was only returned to the heirs of its lawful owners in 2002.

Ake, 2023