Metamorphoses: Schiele transformed his own figure into various shapes
The main focus of the exhibition, which comprises some 20 paintings as well as documents and autographs, is on the artist´s self-portraits. Since the Renaissance the self-portrait has been a central theme for many artists, including Albrecht Dürer, Anthonis van Dyck and Rembrandt. Schiele, however, transformed himself in his self-portraits. "Schiele often used himself as a model, changing and transforming his body into various shapes", explains Elisabeth Leopold. These transformations could best be described as "metamorphoses". The intensity with which Egon Schiele used body language as a medium of expression is largely unprecedented. According to Elisabeth Leopold "the depicted becomes a symbol of the dying man who becomes a hermit, naked and levitating".