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 There are four key places that let you come close to Egon Schiele in Europe: the Belevedere Museum, the Leopold collection in the Vienna Museum Quarter, the
Schiele Museum in Tulln (about a half hour west of Vienna) and the Schiele
Museum in Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic (a four hour train ride from
Vienna). The Leopold collection is the most extensive, has many of
the well known originals and is the most accessible. The Tulln Museum
is full of facsimiles but has several artifacts from Schiele's life including
the museum itself which is the prison where Schiele was incarcerated for
lewd behavior.
The focus of this first of three articles is the Museum in Cesky Krumlov where Schiele's mother had lived and where he spent much of his time.
In Cesky Krumlow Schiele ultimately was also ousted for lewd behavior.
The trip to Cesky Krumlov is a trip all by itself. (Pardon the
pun.) A seemingly endless train ride from Vienna takes you to every
dung heap in the chicken coup, but it is fun for sure if you like to change
trains and look out over the landscape as it is slowly pulled away from
under you. All the people you meet are very nice, helpful and friendly.
 From the Krumlov station a 15 minute walk down hill takes you to the
gate of a medieval Disneyland of a city, which turns out to be the star
of the adventure. The Schiele Museum is easily found by hanging a
right at the main square. Yes you have heard these words before,
but you really can't miss it, that is if you can pry yourself loose from
the enchantment of the village itself. Imagine every structure about
400 to 500 years old and older, cobblestones everywhere, plus the smells
of restaurants and cafes luring you to succumb and lose your purpose.
The Museum is a converted brewery with much charm of its
own. Columns and vaulted ceilings are complimented by brick and wooden
floors and heavily beamed ceilings.
Prepare to surrender your cameras and bags in Stalag-like entrance where multiple locked iron gates remind you that the Iron Curtain may have been
recycled along with some old attitudes. The documentation is extensive
and rather dull in appearance loosened up by very few small original works
and several facsimiles displayed under such dull light that you might think
they are originals. Sadly enough, that is the lot of it. The remainder
in the museum is an equally fiercely guarded collection of ... well ... I tend
to be a bit critical on art and shall refrain from criticism. Needless
to say 35 minutes is enough time for the vaults.
The real museum is the city of Cesky Krumlov that so obviously provided
inspiration for many of Schiele's drawings and paintings. It is difficult
to know what else motivated him in his work, but much of what can be seen
in the various places reveals a deeply disturbed personality that is echoed in the equally disturbed clients who bought the work. Undoubtedly the work has its own unique style worthy of inclusion as art history and is now valued as such; one wonders at what personal price?
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