Letter from Egon Schiele to Hermann Engel
Leopold Museum, Vienna
ESDA ID
141
Nebehay 1979
397
Credit line
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 4497
Date
Sept. 1911 (handwritten)
Material/technique
Black ink on paper
Dimensions
22,5 x 14,3 cm
Transcription
[Translation:]
September 1911.
Dear Dr. E.
"Revelation"! [1] – The revelation of a certain being; it can be a poet, an artist, a man of knowledge, a spiritist. – Have you ever felt the impression a great personality can make on the world? That would be one. – The painting must emit light from itself, the bodies have their own light, which they consume during their lifetime; they burn; they are unlit. – The figure backwards? – The one half should thus show portrayed the vision of such a great person, that the one who influences kneels down in rapture, bends over before the great one who looks without opening its eyes, who decays, out of whom streams astral light orange or other color, in such excess that the one who is kneeling flows hypnotized into the great one. – On the right everything is red, orange, deep brown and on the left is the being similar to him, which resembles the great one on the right differently. – (Positive and negative electricity unite.) It should thus mean that the small one on his knees melts into the radiant great one. That gives you some idea about my painting. "Revelation"!
Egon Schiele.
September 1911.
Dear Dr. E.
"Revelation"! [1] – The revelation of a certain being; it can be a poet, an artist, a man of knowledge, a spiritist. – Have you ever felt the impression a great personality can make on the world? That would be one. – The painting must emit light from itself, the bodies have their own light, which they consume during their lifetime; they burn; they are unlit. – The figure backwards? – The one half should thus show portrayed the vision of such a great person, that the one who influences kneels down in rapture, bends over before the great one who looks without opening its eyes, who decays, out of whom streams astral light orange or other color, in such excess that the one who is kneeling flows hypnotized into the great one. – On the right everything is red, orange, deep brown and on the left is the being similar to him, which resembles the great one on the right differently. – (Positive and negative electricity unite.) It should thus mean that the small one on his knees melts into the radiant great one. That gives you some idea about my painting. "Revelation"!
Egon Schiele.
Annotations
[1] Revelation, 1911, K P203.
Provenance
Privatbesitz, Wien
1994: Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, Wien (Stiftung)
Provenienz lt. Nebehay 1979:
Verbleib unbekannt, als Quelle wird Roessler 1921, S. 157 angegeben.
1994: Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, Wien (Stiftung)
Provenienz lt. Nebehay 1979:
Verbleib unbekannt, als Quelle wird Roessler 1921, S. 157 angegeben.
Recorded in
Roessler 1921, p. 157; Werth 2006, p. 381; Leopold Museum 2008, p. 85
Owner
Author
Recipient
Image credit
Leopold Museum, Vienna
Linked objects
(+-)
PURL: https://www.egonschiele.at/141