Description
Portrait of the Artist’s Wife, Edith Schiele is a 1918 work by Egon Schiele in which his wife sits facing us, hands folded in her lap, in a blue blouse with a white lace collar and a wide pale skirt. The original is in the Belvedere in Vienna under inventory number 1991; the museum record notes it is currently not on display. We make it as a hand-painted oil painting on linen, in thirteen sizes or to your own measurement, and we send you a photograph of the finished work for approval before it ships.
| Title: | Portrait of the Artist’s Wife, Edith Schiele |
| Other titles: | Bildnis der Frau des Künstlers, Edith Schiele · Edith Schiele, seated |
| Painter: | Egon Schiele (1890–1918) |
| Year: | 1918; signed and dated lower left “EGON / SCHIELE / 1918” |
| Original size: | 139.8 cm x 109.8 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Style: | Expressionism |
| Location: | Belvedere, Vienna (inv. no. 1991), currently not on display |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on linen, 13 sizes from 50 x 65 cm to 160 x 205 cm, or a made-to-measure size |
Portrait of the Artist’s Wife, Edith Schiele – Egon Schiele
Who was Edith Schiele?
The painter’s wife. They married in 1915 and the portrait came three years later. The Belvedere’s record also quotes a friend of the artist on the young couple: “One evening Schiele was invited with his wife. She was completely obscured by her tousled blonde hair and a shy hesitancy.” The record adds that Schiele painted his wife with a highly sensitive gaze. It says nothing further about her, so neither do we.
What does the work show?
A seated woman turned straight towards the viewer, hands folded in her lap. Above, a blue blouse with a white lace collar and a small black ribbon; below, a wide pale skirt spread into a triangle and covered with small strokes of colour. The ground is dark green, shot through with blue, ochre and orange flecks, so the figure stands out without any room forming behind her. Brown shoes show beneath the hem. The signature sits at the lower left.
Why was the dress repainted?
Because the museum asked for it. The record states it plainly: this was the first of Schiele’s paintings to be acquired by a museum, but in the eyes of the then Director of the house — called the Österreichische Staatsgalerie at the time — it was too “arts-and-crafts” and vivid, whereupon Schiele reworked Edith’s dress in more muted hues. That is not an interpretation but the museum’s record of itself, which is exactly why we give it as written.
What did the 2018 technical analysis show?
The original version. The record states that technical analysis of the painting in 2018 brought the first state of the dress to light, that this original version has been reconstructed, and that it is shown beside the final version. The same record gives the location as currently not on display; we neither reconcile those two statements nor drop either of them. Our reproduction is made from the finished version — the one with the muted skirt, the version shown on this page — not from the reconstruction of the first state.
Why does this work matter?
Because it was the first. The record states that this was the first work by Schiele acquired by a museum — the moment the painter crossed from private collections into a public house. It happened in 1918, the year he died. As an expressionist painting it is unusual in being private and official at once: the sitter is the painter’s wife and the buyer is the state gallery.
What is the canvas like and where is the signature?
A portrait format: the record gives 139.8 x 109.8 cm, a canvas about a quarter taller than it is wide. The signature is lower left, in the form “EGON / SCHIELE / 1918”. The record also gives a second inscription, on the reverse on the stretcher: “Egon Schiele, Wien XIII, Bildnis E. Sch. 1918” — the painter’s address, his own name for the work, and the year. That double marking is a useful detail for this page: it tells you the work left the studio labelled on the back as well.
Where does it come from and where is it now?
The museum’s acquisition note is short: purchased in 1918 from the Kunsthandlung Gustav Nebehay in Vienna. We take that from the museum record and attribute it there; this page carries no older provenance text that could be brought across unchanged. The exhibition list begins as early as 1921, with a show of acquisitions from 1918–1921, and runs on through 1929, 1954, 1968 and 1990 to 2011. Among them is a 2003 exhibition devoted to Franz Martin Haberditzl, a director of this house, whom Schiele also painted and whom we carry separately. The work is today in the Belvedere under inventory number 1991 and, per the record, currently not on display; the museum’s whole Schiele holding is listed on the Belvedere’s Egon Schiele page.
Where does this portrait sit among Schiele’s works?
Among the late portraits, and directly beside Death and the Maiden of 1915: the museum record for that work states that Schiele split up with Wally Neuzil precisely in order to marry Edith Harms. The two portraits of 1910 show where he came from — the Portrait of Eduard Kosmack and the Portrait of Herbert Reiner — while The Embrace of 1917 shows where he went once he dropped faces altogether. The full selection is in the Egon Schiele gallery, and there is more on his life in our article about Egon Schiele. Schiele was a younger contemporary of Gustav Klimt, and the Vienna Secession was the milieu he came out of; Viennese Expressionism is the movement he helped define, and Austrian art of the period is still read through those two names.
How is our hand-painted version made?
Every canvas is painted by an artist in oils, stroke by stroke. It is not a machine impression but a hand-painted copy made specifically for your order. On this subject the hardest part is the skirt: it has to read as one pale mass and at the same time be built from hundreds of small strokes, or it turns into a white patch. The other delicate part is the ground, which must not settle into an even green. When the work is finished we photograph it and send you the photograph for approval, and only then does it ship. For this family we hold no studio photographs — the work has not been photographed in our workshop yet, and nothing has been removed; when it is next painted it will be photographed and the images added to this page. As a canvas reproduction it arrives stretched on a wooden bar and ready to hang.
Which size suits which wall?
Short answer: above a sofa choose 110 x 140 cm or larger; for a smaller wall 70 x 90 cm is enough. An upright subject behaves differently from a horizontal one — it does not need length beneath it but height above, so it works well beside a door, between windows, or alone on a narrow wall. Above a bed 120 x 150 cm is the usual choice. Our largest format is 160 x 205 cm and the smallest is 50 x 65 cm; at 110 x 140 cm the figure is close to the size of the original. A canvas painting at that scale needs distance: the face and the skirt only settle together from a few metres.
How do I order a made-to-measure size, stretcher bar and frame?
If none of the thirteen sizes suits your wall, we paint the work to your own measurement. The canvas comes stretched on a wooden bar; our 3D application is for choosing a frame only, not for showing the work on your own wall. You choose the frame separately and it is not necessarily part of the order.
How is it delivered and what do we guarantee?
We paint to order and deliver to sixteen countries in the European Union, among them Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland; the United Kingdom and Ireland are not currently among them. Before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished work for approval; if you are not satisfied with the result we correct it or paint it again. Because each painting is made individually, the production time varies with the size and with the studio’s current workload.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original kept?
In the Belvedere in Vienna, inventory number 1991; the museum record notes it is currently not on display.
Who is in the work?
Edith Schiele, the painter’s wife; they married in 1915.
Which version do you paint?
The finished one — the version with the muted skirt. We do not reproduce the reconstruction of the earlier, more vivid dress.
Is this a print?
No. Every canvas is painted by hand in oils by an artist.
Why did Schiele rework the dress?
According to the museum record, the then Director of the house found it too “arts-and-crafts” and too vivid.
How large is the original canvas?
139.8 x 109.8 cm, so upright.
Can I have a size that is not on the list?
Yes, we paint the work to any measurement you specify.
How does it arrive?
Stretched on a wooden bar and protectively packed; the frame is optional.
What is the work about, in one sentence?
That the painter painted his wife calmly, and that calm is harder here than distortion.
Is the original for sale?
It is not for sale; it belongs to the public Belvedere collection and is not on the market.
Does it work as a gift?
It does; if you are unsure which size to choose there is a gift voucher.
- Subject: Edith Schiele seated frontally, blue blouse with white collar, wide pale skirt.
- Original: 1918, oil on canvas, 139.8 x 109.8 cm, signed lower left, Belvedere Vienna, inv. no. 1991.
- Ours: hand-painted in oils after the finished version, 13 sizes or a made-to-measure size.
- Worth knowing: the museum record calls this the first work by Schiele a museum acquired.
