Egon Schiele

Acquired by the family of the present owner in the 1950s

This is one of several studies Schiele executed for his 1918 portrait of the scholar and industrialist Dr. Hugo Koller who married the painter Broncia Pinell.  In the finished oil Schiele emphasised the sitter's academic interests by portraying him in his library surrounded by books (see: J. Kallir, Egon Schiele, The Complete Works, London, 1998, no. 320). Schiele stayed at Koller's summer house in Oberwaltersdorf in August 1918, almost certainly after this work and the oil had been completed.

Schiele’s skill at mastering form and expression in a few strokes of his pencil is exemplified in the present work.  The sitter’s clothes are barely completed but clearly suggest the elegant attire of the gentleman.  The concentration of line around Dr. Koller’s mouth, highlights the alert expression of the sitter.

Fig. 1, Portrait of Dr. Hugo Koller, 1918, oil on canvas, Österreeichische Galerie, Vienna