Sorrow (Kümmernis)

April 1912

Arrest, jail and trial in Neulengbach

In April 1912 Schiele was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and seducing a girl of thirteen: the police seized more than a hundred drawings from his studio that they considered pornographic, and while awaiting trial in custody he made a series of paintings of his jail cell. The charges were dropped, but he was found guilty of exhibiting erotic drawings in a place accessible to children: the judge burned one of the drawings over a candle flame, the 21 days already spent in custody were counted and a further three days’ imprisonment were added.

1912–1916

Success at exhibitions across Europe

In 1912–1916 Schiele took part widely and successfully in exhibitions: his work was shown in Vienna, Budapest, Munich, Prague, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Zurich, Hagen, Dresden, Berlin, Rome, Cologne, Brussels and Paris.

1913

First solo show in Munich

In 1913 the Galerie Hans Goltz in Munich mounted Schiele’s first solo show.

28 October 1918

Edith dies of the Spanish flu

In the autumn of 1918 the Spanish flu pandemic reached Vienna; on 28 October Edith, six months pregnant, died of the disease.

28 – 31 October 1918

The last three days: a mirror and sketches of Edith

The very sick and weak Schiele was moved from the couple’s home to his in-laws’ house; for fear of contagion visitors spoke to him from afar by way of a mirror set up on the threshold between his room and the parlour; among his last visitors were his mother Marie and his sister Melanie. During the three days between Edith’s death and his own, Schiele drew a few sketches of her.