Description
Death and the Maiden is a 1915 painting by Egon Schiele: a man in a dark robe holds a young woman in a patterned dress who clings to him with both arms, the two of them lying on a white, crumpled cloth in front of a brown ground. We paint it by hand in oils at the size you choose, and before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished work for approval.
| Title: | Death and the Maiden |
| Other titles: | Tod und Mädchen · Death and Maiden · Smrt in deklica |
| Painter: | Egon Schiele (1890–1918) |
| Year: | 1915, signed and dated upper right “EGON / SCHIELE / 1915” |
| Original size: | 150 cm x 180 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Style: | Expressionism |
| Location: | Belvedere, Vienna |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on canvas, 15 sizes from 50 x 40 cm to 205 x 164 cm, or a made-to-measure size |
Death and the Maiden – Egon Schiele
What does the painting show?
Two figures in an embrace, laid across a white, crumpled cloth. The man, in a dark brown robe, bends his head over the woman and rests one hand on her reddish hair; his wide-open eyes look past her. She holds him with both arms, her face turned down, her lips red, her dress a web of red, orange and pink strokes. Her bare legs stretch out towards the lower right edge, his towards the lower left. Behind them lies a broken brown ground of ochre and olive patches, with a pale strip along the top. The Belvedere’s record names the man as a self-portrait of Schiele and the woman as Wally Neuzil. The Austrian painter signed and dated the work in a small square in the upper right corner: EGON / SCHIELE / 1915.
Why do people love it?
Because it reads from across a room and still has more to show up close. The white cloth sets the couple apart from the dark ground, so the embrace is the first thing you see. Closer in, the two faces say different things: the woman hides hers against him, the man looks away. The museum record speaks of a fragile balance, and the poses show it; neither figure lies securely, and the bodies lean on each other. The colours – browns, white and a single warm red – sit well with wood, stone and cream tones in a room. And the subject needs no explanation: two people holding on to each other.
Provenance and where it is
The Belvedere purchased the painting from the Munich Secession (Sezession, München) in 1930; it is now shown at the Upper Belvedere in Vienna.
Where does it sit among Schiele’s works?
If you are choosing among his figure paintings, compare it in our shop with Portrait of Wally Neuzil, Mother with Two Children III and Trude Engel. 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?
One painter in our workshop paints your copy by hand in oils, stroke by stroke, for your order alone; it is not a print. The original is oil on canvas, and so is our copy. Two passages need the most care. The first is the white cloth, which is not one flat colour but a mass of small strokes in white, grey, pink and blue. The second is the woman’s dress, a net of red and orange lines that must not blur into a single red. When the work 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 the page shows no workshop photographs yet.
Which size for which wall?
We offer fifteen sizes, from 50 x 40 cm to 205 x 164 cm. Above a chest of drawers or a desk, 70 x 55 cm or 80 x 65 cm works well. Above a sofa or a bed, choose 100 x 80 cm or 130 x 100 cm, so the couple has room to breathe. On a large wall, in a stairwell or in a room with a high ceiling, 150 x 120 cm or 190 x 150 cm is the right scale. A canvas painting this size needs a few steps of distance, so leave space in front of it. If you are torn between two sizes, cut paper to both, tape the sheets to the wall and live with them for a day. A hand-painted painting hangs best with its centre at eye level, roughly 145–150 cm from the floor; above a sofa, 15–25 cm above the backrest.
Custom size, stretcher bar and frame
If none of the sizes suits your wall, we paint the work to your own measurement. If you choose YES under the Podokvir (stretcher bar) 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. 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
Who are the two figures in Death and the Maiden?
According to the Belvedere, the man is a self-portrait of Schiele and the young woman clinging to him is Wally Neuzil, his partner and model since 1911. Schiele left her in 1915 to marry Edith Harms. Neuzil trained as a nurse and died of scarlet fever in December 1917 while serving in the war, aged 23.
When did Schiele paint Death and the Maiden?
In 1915, the year he parted from Wally Neuzil, married Edith Harms and was called up for military service. The canvas is signed and dated in the upper right “EGON / SCHIELE / 1915” and measures 150 x 180 cm. It was exhibited at the Berlin Secession at the start of 1916.
What does Death and the Maiden mean?
It is widely read as Schiele’s farewell to Wally Neuzil: she holds on with both arms while the man stares past her into space. The title takes up the old motif of death embracing a young woman, and the Belvedere describes the unstable pose of the couple as a meditation on mortality. Painted in the middle of the First World War, it ties love and death together.
What was Death and the Maiden originally called?
Schiele first called it Mann und Mädchen (Man and Girl), and the Schiele autograph database still lists the work as Death and Maiden (Man and Girl). The present name, Tod und Mädchen, is the one the Belvedere uses today.
Where is Death and the Maiden today?
In the Belvedere in Vienna, where it hangs in the Upper Belvedere under inventory number 3171. The museum bought it in 1930 from the Munich Secession.
Does it work as a gift?
Yes; if you are unsure which size to choose, there is a gift voucher.
