The whole world knows who Egon Schiele is. His most drawings and his paintings are among the most celebrated ones in the world. He was an Austrian painter who lived for less than three decades between the end of 1800 and the beginning of 1900. He was also one of the only artists who had the courage to exhibit himself and his art, at the cost of the consequences of living in a society that was too conservative.

“To restrict the artist is a crime. It is to murder germinating life.” Egon Schiele

Often those who read Schiele‘s story” cannot understand how it was possible for him to have experienced his so iconic artistic career, his deep relationship with Wally, his marriage to Edith and his imprisonment, in just 28 years. When you say “an intense life”. Famous for the honest erotism recounted in his paintings; The existing collection of his paintings and drawings exceeds thousands of works, and their auctions almost always exceed the maximum estimated value pointed out at the beginning of the auctions themselves. But his pornographic vein, defined in a derogatory way by society, is the glue that morbidly unifies the public with his paintings. This is not surprising, because his paintings constantly tell us his sexual freedom, something which for many people still requires a lifetime. His works are like the caresses of a sweet prostitute, while she explains you what love is.

Egon Schiele‘s legend

“ I was in love with everything- I wanted to look with love at the angry people so that their eyes would be forced to respond; and I wanted to bring gifts to the envious and tell them that I am worthless.”  Egon Schiele

And where he saw love in everything, the conservatives, determined to repress their innate deep-seated impulses, saw pornography. Legend has it that Egon Schiele‘s artistic path first blossomed when his art masters, seeing his talent unexpressed, decided to lock him in a room with a mattress, two buckets (one for water and one for his bodily needs), a pile of white sheets and many objects. His masters instructions were only: – “You will not leave this room until you have drawn everything here.” He remained locked up for a month and a half without having contact with the outside world, definitively sealing his pact of love with art. Actually, this is not really a legend, but a part of the novel “The pornographer of Vienna”, a fictionalized biography written by Lewis Crofts, which tells the story of Egon Schiele‘s life in first person: his sexual discoveries, the lonely childhood at the bottom of a cantonal house, the birth of erotic obsessions, his first drawings with coal, and its imprisonment.

“Bodies have their own light which they consume to live: they burn, they are not lit from the outside.”  Egon Schiele

And here, we have collected all his most erotic drawings, leaving the carmine colors of his paintings for the next article, so that you can enjoy your journey one discovery at a time.

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If you like these marvelous drawings, I cannot suggest you enough a beautiful book called: Gustav Klimt: drawings and watercolors. This is a superior collection for the lowest price