Description
The Small Town III is a 1913 painting by Egon Schiele: rows of narrow houses in ochre, pink, green and brown lined up along a dark river, with more houses climbing behind them. The original, 89.9 x 90 cm, is in the Leopold Museum in Vienna. 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: | The Small Town III |
| Other titles: | Die Kleine Stadt III |
| Painter: | Egon Schiele (1890–1918) |
| Year: | 1913, signed and dated centre right “EGON SCHIELE 1913” |
| Original size (width × height): | 89.9 cm x 90 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil and soft pencil on canvas |
| Style: | Expressionism |
| Location: | Leopold Museum, Vienna (inv. 482) |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on canvas, 13 sizes from 50 x 50 cm to 160 x 160 cm, or a made-to-measure size |
The Small Town III – Egon Schiele
What does the painting show?
The lower part of the square canvas is almost all dark water, a deep brown-black surface without reflections. Along its edge runs a thin pale bank, and on it the houses of the town stand shoulder to shoulder: gabled fronts in ochre, olive, pink, green and grey, with rows of small windows, many of them touched with red or green. Behind them rise steep dark roofs with pale chimneys, a large ochre building with a row of triangular dormers, and a yellow building with a rounded, stepped top. A broad dark band crosses the upper part, and above it, along the top edge, another row of houses in pink, white and brown. The Austrian painter signed and dated the work in a small block of letters at the right, just above the water.
Why do people love it?
Because it turns a real town into an ordered pattern without losing its warmth. The houses stand in line almost like beads on a string, each with its own colour and its own windows, and the great dark area of water below makes them glow. The museum notes that Schiele composed it from memory rather than on the spot, and it has the look of a place seen in the mind: close, calm and quiet. The square format keeps everything balanced.
Where does it sit among Schiele’s works?
Among his many views of Krumau (Český Krumlov), his mother’s birthplace in South Bohemia, a town on a bend of the Vltava that he painted again and again. The title returns in Krumau on the Vltava (The Small Town IV), and dense clusters of houses appear again in Town among Greenery (The Old City III) and in Houses on the River (The Old Town). The full selection is in the Egon Schiele gallery, and there is more on his life in our article about Egon Schiele.
How is our hand-painted version made?
Each copy is a hand-painted painting made for your order, not a print: a painter builds it up in oils, stroke by stroke. Our copy is oil on canvas; the original, as the museum records, also uses soft pencil, and we render its fine outlines with the brush. The hard part here is the dark water: a large area that must stay deep and even without looking dead, while the small windows and coloured fronts above it keep their crisp edges. When the work is finished we photograph it and send you the photograph for approval, and only then does it ship. We have not yet photographed this work in our workshop; photographs will be added to this page once we have them.
Which size for which wall?
The original measures 89.9 x 90 cm, so our 90 x 90 cm is almost exactly its size. For a hallway, a study or beside a bookcase, 50 x 50 cm or 60 x 60 cm; above a sofa in a living room, 80 x 80 cm or 100 x 100 cm; above a sideboard in a dining room or on a large wall, 120 x 120 cm or 140 x 140 cm; and 160 x 160 cm for a large open space. A canvas painting with this much dark water needs good light, so the houses at the top stay lively. Hang it with the centre at eye level, about 145–150 cm from the floor.
Custom size, stretcher bar and frame
If none of the thirteen 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. 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 work arrives protectively packed and, if you chose “YES” under Stretcher, stretched on a 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
Which town does it show?
Krumau, today Český Krumlov, the medieval town on a bend of the Vltava in South Bohemia where Schiele’s mother was born. According to the Leopold Museum he did not paint it on the spot but composed it from memory, freely interpreting the real layout. Some of the buildings can still be identified.
Why is the canvas made of two pieces?
Schiele used a canvas sewn together from two pieces, most probably because he was short of money in the second half of 1912. The seam runs roughly along the bank of the river.
What technique did Schiele use?
The museum records it as oil and soft pencil on canvas. The houses are held by dark drawn outlines and filled with areas of colour, while the water is laid in as one broad dark surface.
Did Schiele paint Krumau more than once?
Yes, many times; he felt a closer tie to Krumau than to any other town he visited. The museum names Dead City III (City on the Blue River III) of 1911 and Crescent of Houses II (Island Town) of 1915 among his other views of it.
Who owned it before the Leopold Museum?
The museum’s provenance names, in order, Hubert Jung, the Galerie Würthle in Vienna, Viktor Fogarassy in Graz and the Galerie Würthle again in 1980. Rudolf Leopold owned it from before 1985, and in 1994 it passed to the Leopold Museum Private Foundation.
Does it work as a gift?
Yes; if you are unsure which size to choose, there is a gift voucher.
