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Egon Schiele

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1910

I was first to see the eternal avenues of spring, the raging storm
and had to take my leave, – endlessly of all the locations of life.
in those early days the level lands were around me, at that time
I had already heard and smelled the miracle flowers, the speechless
gardens, the birds. The birds? – in whose eyes I saw myself pink
with shining eyes? – The birds are no more. – Often come autumn
I would weep with half my eyes. Then I delighted in the glorious
summer and laughed, as in summer I painted for myself the white
winter. In spring I dreamt of the universal music of all living things.
Until that time there was joy, then began times of idle leisure and the
lifeless schools. I encountered endless dead cities and mourned myself.
At that time I experienced my dying father. My brutal teachers were always my greatest foes.
Now I must rekindle my life!
At last I can see the generous sun once more and be free.

 

Egon Schiele (1890-1918) is best known as a painter of tortured portraits and lyrical landscapes. He was the youngest of the Viennese Expressionists who in 1909 rebelled against the Academy and formed the Neukunstgruppe (‘New Art Group’) – his fellow rebels were Gerstl and Kokoschka. Schiele died in the influenza epidemic at the end of the Great War, some six months after finally achieving acceptance and success with his one-man show at the Vienna Secession in March 1918.

Translated by Will Stone, Anthony Vivis

Page(s) 157

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