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Egon Schiele was born in Tulln on the Danube. His father, Adolph
Schiele, worked for the Austrian State Railways as a station master; his
mother, Marie Soukup(ová), was from Krumau, in Bohemia. As a child, he
attended the school run by the Stift Klosterneuburg, where his arts
teacher K.L. Strauch recognized and supported Schiele's artistic talent.
When Schiele was 15 years old, his father died from syphilis, and he
became a ward of his maternal uncle, Leopold Czihaczec, who became
distressed by Schiele's lack of interest in academic studies, yet
recognized his passion and talent for art. In 1906 Schiele applied at
the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Arts and Crafts) in Vienna, where
Gustav Klimt had once studied. Within his first year there, Schiele was
sent, at the insistence of several faculty members, to the more
traditional Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Vienna in 1906. There, he
studied painting and drawing, but was frustrated by the school’s
conservatism. Records show that Adolf Hitler was rejected by the
Akademie in 1907; this has led to a misconception that Schiele and
Hitler knew each other in Vienna.
More Featured Paintings Georgia Okeeffe
- Joan Miro
- Fernando Botero
- Egon Schiele
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