Self-Seer II (Death and Man), 1911

Leopold Museum,
Vienna

Self-Seer II (Death and Man)
1911

Oil on canvas

80.5×80 cm

Egon Schiele
(Tulln 1890–1918 Vienna)

Currently on display at OG3

In this square painting, which the artist titled Self-Seer as well as Death and Man, Egon Schiele (1890–1918) once again explores the motif of the self-portrait as the portrait of a self a crisis – an individual that has lost the security of being “indivisible”. As in an earlier version of the theme, which is now lost, Schiele breaks up the unity of the figure by adding a shadowy double. The Self-Seer aims at a heightened self-perception which exceeds rational recognition and which is accompanied by an act of distancing manifested in the figure – lost in introspection with its eyes closed – and its pale revenant. The notion of dissociation is further enhanced by a hand which protrudes into the picture from below and which cannot be attributed to either figure. Schiele’s querying, tentative drafts of the self, which express the crisis of the subject on a pictorial level, today form the arguably most virulent part of his oeuvre and serve as a symbolic representation of Austrian Expressionism.

VG, 2022

Audio

Audio for adults

Object data

Artist/author

Egon SchieleGND

Title

Self-Seer II (Death and Man)

Date

1911

Art movement

Expressionism

Category

Painting

Material/technique

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

80.5×80 cm

Signature

Signed and dated lower left: S. 11.

Credit line

Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 451

Inventory access

Contributed to the Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung in 1994

Selection of Reference works

Rudolf Leopold: Egon Schiele. Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, hrsg. von Elisabeth Leopold, München 2020.
Wien 1900. Aufbruch in die Moderne, hrsg. von Hans-Peter Wipplinger, Wien 2019 (Ausst.-Kat. Leopold Museum, Wien, ab 15.03.2019).
Tobias Natter: Egon Schiele, Sämtliche Gemälde 1909-1918, Köln 2017.
Egon Schiele. Melancholie und Provokation, hrsg. von Elisabeth/Diethard Leopold, Wien 2011 (Ausst.-Kat. Leopold Museum, Wien, 23.09.2011–19.04.2012).
Edvard Munch und das Unheimliche, hrsg. von Michael Fuhr, Wien 2009/2010 (Ausst.-Kat. Leopold Museum, Wien, 16.10.2009-18.01.2010).
Wien 1900. Sammlung Leopold, hrsg. von Diethard Leopold/Peter Weinhäupl, Wien u.a. 2009.
Der Lyriker Egon Schiele. Briefe und Gedichte 1910–1912 aus der Sammlung Leopold, hrsg. von Rudolf Leopold/Elisabeth Leopold, München 2008.
Jane Kallir: Egon Schiele - The complete works. Expanded edition including a biography and a catalogue raisonné, New York 1998.
Otto Kallir: Egon Schiele. Oeuvre Catalogue of the Paintings, New York 1966.
Otto Nirenstein: Egon Schiele. Persönlichkeit und Werk, Berlin 1930.

Catalogue raisonne

J. Kallir 1990/1998: P193
Leopold 1972/2020: 173
Natter 2017: 54
O. Kallir 1966: 129 / VIII
O. Kallir (Nirenstein) 1930: 77 / XIV

Keywords

deathman/boyself-portraitdoublepostures/gestures of arms and hands in generalfingers spread outclothing (upper part of the body)self-portrait of artist

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Provenance

Provenance research
Leopold Museum i

Nachlass Egon Schiele, Wien (1919); (1)
Max Hevesi, Wien (1919); (2)
Otto Nirenstein bzw. Neue Galerie, Wien (vor 1930-1948); (3)
Galerie St. Etienne, New York (1948-1954); (4)
Dr. Rudolf Leopold, Wien (1954-1994); (5)
Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, Wien (1994).

Christian M. Nebehay: Egon Schiele 1890-1918. Leben Briefe Gedichte, Salzburg u. Wien 1979, S. 495, Nr. 25
Sonja Niederacher, Egon Schiele. „Selbstseher“ II („Tod und Mann“), Dossier vom 30.06.2010, S. 4
Otto Nirenstein, Egon Schiele. Persönlichkeit und Werk, Berlin 1930, Nr. 77
Niederacher, Schiele, S. 5; Archiv des Leopold Museums, Jane Kallir an Patricia Spiegelfeld vom 31. Mai 2002
Archiv des Leopold Museums, Tauschvertrag zwischen Dr. Rudolf Leopold und Otto Kallir vom 14. Juli 1954; Archiv des Bundesdenkmalamtes, Ausfuhren AZ 1487/54, Ausfuhrbewilligung vom 15. Juli 1954.

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