Letter from Egon Schiele to Anton Peschka
Leopold Museum, Vienna
ESDA ID
154
Nebehay 1979
713
Credit line
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 4510
Date
23rd Nov. 1914 (handwritten)
Material/technique
Black ink on paper
Dimensions
17,5 x 11 cm (page)
Transcription
[Translation:]
23rd November 1914.
Dear Anton Peschka!
We have known one another for a long time – life has been painful for you – and you have learned from what you lived through – times must change. There is one great flaw within you, and once you are rid of it you must surely grow, – it is you who should be master, you should take charge. Those who live thoughtfully will progress faster. We must not be peasants bound to the earth; this alone should already set us apart from the others. – We must never ask for the past to return – for that would be regression.
||
This is why I don’t want us to stay here. Instead I will go to Berlin after the war, and there I will have the courage to start a new life. To this end I wish both you and myself insight, clarity and good luck!
Warmest
greetings
Egon Schiele
23rd November 1914.
Dear Anton Peschka!
We have known one another for a long time – life has been painful for you – and you have learned from what you lived through – times must change. There is one great flaw within you, and once you are rid of it you must surely grow, – it is you who should be master, you should take charge. Those who live thoughtfully will progress faster. We must not be peasants bound to the earth; this alone should already set us apart from the others. – We must never ask for the past to return – for that would be regression.
||
This is why I don’t want us to stay here. Instead I will go to Berlin after the war, and there I will have the courage to start a new life. To this end I wish both you and myself insight, clarity and good luck!
Warmest
greetings
Egon Schiele
Annotations
This letter refers to the wedding of Gertrude Schiele and Anton Peschka on 24th November 1914.
Provenance
Privatbesitz, Wien
1994: Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, Wien (Stiftung)
Provenienz lt. Nebehay 1979:
Verbleib unbekannt, als Quelle wird Roessler 1921, S. 104-105 angegeben.
1994: Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, Wien (Stiftung)
Provenienz lt. Nebehay 1979:
Verbleib unbekannt, als Quelle wird Roessler 1921, S. 104-105 angegeben.
Recorded in
Roessler 1921, S. 104/105
Owner
Signee
Recipient
Image credit
Leopold Museum, Vienna
PURL: https://www.egonschiele.at/154