''Death and the Maiden'' is an oil on canvas painting by the Austrian painter

Egon Schiele Egon Leo Adolf Ludwig Schiele (; 12 June 1890 – 31 October 1918) was an Austrian Expressionist painter. His work is noted for its intensity and its raw sexuality, and for the many self-portraits the artist produced, including nude self-portr ...

from 1915. It is exhibited in the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, in Vienna. Schiele initially named the large picture measuring 150 by 180 centimeters as ''Man and Girl'' and also ''Entwined People''.

History and description

The painting was created when the painter, after marrying Edith Harms, was drafted into military service in the First World War. The presence of death, but also the connection between death and eros in several of his works from this period, is associated with this event. In this painting he uses a Renaissance motif, the contrast between death and the maiden. In this painting, the woman clutching the shape of death as her lover, in a monk's robe, loses its horror. There are some similarities with fellow Austrian painter Oskar Kokoschka painting ''The Bride of the Wind'' (1914).Hilde Berger, ''Tod und Mädchen. Egon Schiele und die Frauen'', Böhlau, Vienna, 2009 (German), ISBN 978-3-205-78378-7 The title of the painting is eponymous for the feature film ''Egon Schiele: Death and the Maiden'' (2016) by director Dieter Berner, based on the biographical novel ''Death and Girls: Egon Schiele and the Women'' by Hilde Berger.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Death and the Maiden (Schiele) 1915 paintings Paintings by Egon Schiele Paintings about death