Egon Schiele (1890 – 1918)
Triestiner Fischerboot (Trieste Fishing Boat) UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £10.7 MILLION
A Modernist vision of a Trieste fishing boat by Egon Schiele comes to auction for the first time at Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern art evening sale in London on February 26. Painted in 1912, Triestiner Fischerboot (Trieste Fishing Boat) holds a unique position in Schiele’s oeuvre. It was created in the aftermath of what was arguably the most tumultuous and life-changing experience for the artist. Recently released from a brief period of incarceration in Neulengbach in Austria, and rejected by the local community there, Schiele’s visit to Trieste in 1912 was prompted by a desire to escape memories of the recent past, and relive memories of earlier visits shared with his sister Gerti in 1907 and 1908.
It also prompted an unleashing of radical new artistic expression. In a year of iconoclastic developments across Europe that forever altered the direction of twentieth-century art, from Cubism, Orphism and Futurism to Expressionism, Schiele sought to explore in oil a thoroughly modernist treatment of colour, surface, pattern, texture and form. The painting is estimated at £6,000,000-8,000,000.
In the summer of the preceding year Schiele and the model Wally Neuzil had settled in Neulengbach seeking inspiration but Schiele’s bohemian lifestyle scandalised his conservative neighbours. The couple found themselves in a precarious position when a retired naval officer’s daughter asked for their help to run away and although they returned the girl to her parents, the artist was arrested and placed on trial. The experience and particular loss of freedom it entailed was to have a marked effect on Schiele’s life and work.