Description
Chrysanthemums is a 1910 flower painting by Egon Schiele: a delicate weave of blooms against flat black. The original is oil on canvas, measures 91.9 x 61 cm and is signed in black on the right, in the lower half of the picture. It is held by the Leopold Museum in Vienna under inventory number LM 478. We paint it by hand in oils on canvas at the size you choose, and before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished work for approval.
| Title: | Chrysanthemums |
| Other titles: | the museum uses the same title |
| Painter: | Egon Schiele (1890–1918) |
| Year: | 1910 |
| Original size (width × height): | 91.9 cm x 61 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Style: | Viennese Jugendstil and Expressionism |
| Location: | Leopold Museum, Vienna (inv. LM 478) |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on canvas, 6 sizes from 60 x 40 cm to 165 x 110 cm, or a made-to-measure size |
Chrysanthemums – Egon Schiele
What does the painting show?
Chrysanthemums. In the museum’s reading the picture is carried by the tension between the delicate weave of flowers and the flat black of the background – exactly the pictorial means that suited Schiele’s Expressionist manner of painting. The museum also reads influences of Viennese Jugendstil in the work, above all in the choice of format, which it puts down to the Japonism that was highly popular at the time, and in the decorative staging of the subject. By depicting chrysanthemums in particular, the museum says, Schiele openly emphasised the reference to East Asian art and craftwork. The original is horizontal, 91.9 cm wide and 61 cm high.
Why do people love it?
Because it is a flower painting that never turns sweet. The black ground is flat and quiet, and the blooms read as light against it: from a distance the work looks almost graphic, up close it gives itself away as painting. That is why it works in a dining room, a bedroom and an office – anywhere you want colour without noise. Flowers are also a subject every guest understands, and Schiele’s name gives the subject a weight ordinary still lifes do not have. And because it is hand-painted, each petal is laid down on its own, with a stroke you can see.
Where does it sit among Schiele’s works?
Among Schiele’s rare flower paintings and among the works of 1910, when he was twenty. From the same year our selection also has the landscape Mountain by the River. For this work the museum stresses in particular the closeness to Gustav Klimt (1862–1918), a generation older, who became a fatherly friend and promoter to the young Schiele. The full selection is in the Egon Schiele gallery, with more on his life in our article about Egon Schiele.
How is our hand-painted version made?
A painter works every canvas in oils, stroke by stroke: a hand-painted painting made for your order, not a machine print. Two things are hard here. The first is the black: it has to stay flat without going dead, so the painter lays it in thinner coats rather than as one dense colour – otherwise the blooms hang in front of it like a sticker. The second is the petals. The weave of a chrysanthemum is fine and cannot be painted in one go: every petal gets its own stroke, or the flower turns into a smudge. Our copy is oil on canvas. When it is finished we photograph it and send you the photograph for approval, and only then does it ship. This work has not yet been photographed in our workshop, so there are no workshop photographs of it on this page yet.
Which size for which wall?
For a dining room or a living room, take 120 x 80 cm. The original is 91.9 cm wide and 61 cm high, and our 90 x 60 cm matches it almost exactly – that is the right choice if you want the work at the scale of the original. Above a sofa, a sideboard or a dining table, 135 x 90 cm or 150 x 100 cm; above a desk or in a bedroom, 90 x 60 cm or 120 x 80 cm; in a hallway, a kitchen or a narrow niche, 60 x 40 cm; on a large empty wall, 165 x 110 cm. Prices run from EUR 131 for the smallest to EUR 620 for the largest size. Hang it with the centre at eye level, about 145–150 cm from the floor.
Custom size, stretcher bar and frame
If none of our sizes suits your wall, we paint the work to your own measurement. If you choose “YES” under the Stretcher option, the canvas comes stretched on a wooden stretcher bar, ready to hang. Our 3D application is for choosing a frame only, not for showing the work on your wall. The frame is chosen separately and need not be part of the order.
Delivery and guarantee
We paint to order and deliver to sixteen countries in the European Union, among them Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Germany and France; the United Kingdom and Ireland are not currently among them. The painting arrives protectively packed and, if you chose “YES” under Stretcher, stretched on the stretcher bar; before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished work to approve. Production time depends on the size and on the studio’s workload. Every order is covered by our Returns and Refund Policy.
Frequently asked questions
What does Chrysanthemums show?
Chrysanthemum blooms against a flat black ground. The museum describes the tension between the delicate weave of flowers and that even black as the work’s main pictorial means, and connects it with Schiele’s Expressionist manner of painting.
Why chrysanthemums in particular?
In the museum’s reading, by depicting chrysanthemums Schiele openly emphasised the reference to East Asian art and craftwork. The museum also sees influences of Viennese Jugendstil in the work, above all in the choice of format, which it puts down to the Japonism popular at the time, and in the decorative staging of the subject.
What does Gustav Klimt have to do with it?
According to the notes kept by Arthur Roessler (1877–1955), Schiele’s most important mentor, Schiele and Klimt (1862–1918) met as early as 1907. Klimt, a generation older, became a fatherly friend and promoter; contemporaries described the closeness with names such as “Silver Klimt” and “faithful paladin”.
Will the black background work on a dark wall?
It shows best on a light or neutral wall, where the black reads as a surface and the flowers as light. On a dark wall, hang it where there is enough light, or choose a larger size, for example 135 x 90 cm.
When was it made, and is it signed?
In 1910. The signature “Schiele” is in black on the right, in the lower half of the picture. Schiele was twenty at the time.
Does it work as a gift?
Yes; if you are unsure which size to choose, there is a gift voucher.
