Description
Woods in Autumn is an early work by Egon Schiele from 1907: an upright woodland scene in autumn, painted in oils and drawn in pencil on cardboard. It is signed and dated at the lower right. The original is held by the Leopold Museum in Vienna under inventory number LM 472 and measures 17.3 x 25 cm. We paint it by hand in oils on canvas, in one of six sizes or to your own measurement, and before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished work for approval.
| Title: | Woods in Autumn |
| Other titles: | the museum’s German title is Herbstlicher Auwald |
| Painter: | Egon Schiele (1890–1918) |
| Year: | 1907 |
| Original size (width × height): | 17.3 cm x 25 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil and pencil on cardboard |
| Style: | Expressionism |
| Location: | Leopold Museum, Vienna (inv. LM 472) |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on canvas, 6 sizes from 45 x 65 cm to 115 x 165 cm, or a made-to-measure size |
Woods in Autumn – Egon Schiele
What does the painting show?
The German title the museum uses, given in the table above, names a floodplain wood in autumn – the kind of riverside woodland that grows along the water around Vienna. The format is upright, which in a woodland subject means trunks running from the bottom edge to the top. The museum record carries no description of the scene for this work, so we describe no colours we cannot support; what is on file is the technique – oil and pencil on cardboard, 1907 – a work in which drawing and paint go together from the start. At the lower right are the lettering Schiele and the year 07.
Why do people love it?
Because it is a wood with no story attached: no figures, no narrative, just trees and autumn. A subject like that carries a bedroom, a study or a hallway, where a picture should settle the room rather than take it over. An upright landscape is rare and genuinely useful on a narrow wall. And people like it because it is early Schiele: the same painter who later made taut, charged bodies is here looking quietly at trees, and that contrast is what many buyers are after.
Where does it sit among Schiele’s works?
Among Schiele’s early landscapes of 1907, from his first years at the Vienna Academy. After the artist’s death in 1918 the picture stayed in the family – his sister Melanie Schuster, née Schiele, owned it – then passed into Rudolf Leopold’s collection and in 1994 to the Leopold Museum. That it hung for decades in his sister’s house is, for many buyers, what makes this particular picture worth having. 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 pencil alongside the oil: the drawing shows through the paint in places, and for that to survive in an oil on canvas the thin lines have to be set with a brush rather than buried under colour. The second is scale: the original is postcard-sized and our smallest size is almost three times as tall, so the painter redistributes the strokes on the larger canvas to keep the wood airy instead of letting it become a decorative pattern. 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?
The original is very small, 17.3 cm wide and 25 cm high, so every size we offer is larger. For a hallway, a narrow wall or above a low cabinet, 45 x 65 cm, which at 167 EUR is also the least expensive choice; in a bedroom above a nightstand, 65 x 95 cm; in a study above a desk, 75 x 110 cm; in a living room beside a window or on a narrow strip of wall, 90 x 130 cm; on a larger wall or in a tall room, 105 x 150 cm or 115 x 165 cm. Prices run from 167 EUR for 45 x 65 cm to 1099 EUR for 115 x 165 cm. Woodland pictures work better hung a little lower, so that you look into them as through a window; keep 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 the German title mean?
Autumnal floodplain wood. An Auwald is the woodland of a river’s floodplain, a wood by the water of the kind found around Vienna, and the adjective gives the season. The English name of this painting is shorter and does not carry that detail.
Is the painting signed?
Yes. According to the museum record it is signed and dated at the lower right: Schiele 07. A signature is not a given on works from that year, so it is a nice detail.
Why does the technique mention pencil?
Because the original is drawn as well as painted: the museum record gives oil and pencil on cardboard. The drawing is part of the work, not merely preparation for it. Our copy is oil on canvas, so we lay those lines in with a brush.
Who owned the picture after Schiele’s death?
According to the provenance in the museum record it was with his sister Melanie Schuster, née Schiele, from 1918. Rudolf Leopold owned it later, and in 1994 it passed to the Leopold Museum.
How old was Schiele when he painted it?
Seventeen. He was born in 1890 and was accepted by the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in the autumn of 1906; the work dates from 1907.
Does it work as a gift?
Yes; if you are unsure which size to choose, there is a gift voucher.
