Schiele's interest in artistic design awoke very early - his drawing teacher Ludwig Karl Strauch and the Augustinian canon and art historian Wolfgang Pauker as well as the painter Max Kahrer advised him to attend the School of Arts and Crafts where, after submitting drawings, he was recommended to the Academy. In 1906 he entered Christian Griepenkerl's general painting class. As early as 1907 he sought the personal acquaintance of Gustav Klimt. The bad relationship with his teacher caused Schiele to leave the academy. In 1909 he founded the “Neukunstgruppe” with like-minded artists, exhibited at Galerie Pisko in Vienna and took part in the “Internationale Kunstschau”. Schiele met Josef Hoffmann, came into contact with the “Wiener Werkstätte” and with critics, collectors and publishers. Arthur Roessler put him in touch with the Munich art dealer Goltz, and he was also accepted into the artists' association “Sema”. In 1912 he was charged with seducing minors in Neulengbach. In the following years he participated in many exhibitions at home and abroad. Schiele's beginnings show a lively stylistic exchange with Kokoschka, who was only four years older. While Kokoschka soon turned to a painterly Expressionism, Schiele worked with line and surface. The art of Jugendstil, but above all Gustav Klimt, had a formative influence on him. Hodler's style and the content of Munch's works - man, love, life, death -, as well as artists from France such as Van Gogh , Lautrec or the Belgian sculptor Georg Minne may also have played a role. Despite all these possible influences, the personal character of his art and the significance of his artistic work remain undisputed.
Literature:
O. Kallir, Egon Schiele, Vienna 1966; R. Leopold, Egon Schiele. Gemälde. Aquarelle. Zeichnungen, Salzburg 1972; E. Mitsch, Egon Schiele, Salzburg 1974; C. M. Nebehay, Egon Schiele. 1890-1918. Leben. Briefe. Gedichte, Salzburg 1979; Egon Schiele und seine Zeit. Aus der Sammlung Leopold, Munich 1988.