''The Family'' (in German, "Die Familie") was one of the last oil paintings made by 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 ...

before he died of

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

on 31 October 1918. The work measures and is held by the Belvedere Gallery in Vienna. The painting was initially entitled ''Crouching Couple'' (German: "Kauerndes Menschenpaar") and depicted the artist and a woman, both squatting naked with knees raised. The woman's skin is a lighter pink tone, but the man a darker bronze against the yet darker background. The figures are arranged in a solid pyramidal composition, with the woman on the floor gazing into space to her left with her arms by her sides. She is resting between the legs of the man, who is slightly elevated on a bed or couch, calmly regarding the viewer, with his left arm bent over and resting on his left knee and his right hand across his heart raised to his left collar. Secession

The model for the woman is not Schiele's wife, Edith (née Harms), and may instead be his former lover

Wally Neuzil Walburga "Wally" Neuzil (19 August 1894 – 25 December 1917) was an Austrian nurse who was the lover and muse of the artist Egon Schiele between 1911 and 1915. Early life Neuzil was born in Tattendorf, Lower Austria in 1894, the second child ...

. Edith was expecting their first child at the time of painting, and at a later point Schiele overpainted a bouquet of flowers that had been placed between the woman's legs with a child wrapped a blanket, modelled by his nephew Toni. Some parts of the painting appear unfinished, including the man's left hand. Schiele's light duties in the

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army (, literally "Ground Forces of the Austro-Hungarians"; , literally "Imperial and Royal Army") was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint arm ...

during the First World War allowed him to continue painting and exhibiting. This painting was exhibited at the 49th exhibition of the

Vienna Secession The Vienna Secession (german: Wiener Secession; also known as ''the Union of Austrian Artists'', or ''Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs'') is an art movement, closely related to Art Nouveau, that was formed in 1897 by a group of Austri ...

in 1918, for which Schiele also designed the poster. The exhibition included 19 of his paintings and 24 drawings. Schiele was perhaps the leading painter in Vienna, following the death of

Gustav Klimt Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objets d'art. Klimt's prim ...

in February 1918 from a stroke followed by pneumonia caused by

, Edith Schiele died of Spanish flu on 28 October 1918, six months into her pregnancy: the child did not survive, and Schiele himself succumbed to the same disease three days later. The painting was acquired by the Belvedere Gallery in 1948 from the Austrian artist , during the time he was living in the US.

References

''Kauerndes Menschenpaar (Die Familie)''
Österreichische Galerie Belvedere
''Egon Schiele''
Jeanette Zwingenberger, p.152
''Egon Schiele''
Esther Selsdon, Jeanette Zwingerberger, p.67, 191
''Egon Schiele, 1890-1918: The Midnight Soul of the Artist''
Reinhard Steiner, p.74
''Neurological Disorders in Famous Artists, Part 3''
edited by Julien Bogousslavsky, M. G. Hennerici, H. Baezner, C. Bassetti {{DEFAULTSORT:Family (Schiele), The Paintings by Egon Schiele 1918 paintings Paintings in the collection of the Belvedere, Vienna Paintings of children