Egon Schiele

Egon Schiele, the tortured Austrian Expressionist, specialized in self-portraits that made even his mother wonder if he'd slept through a funhouse mirror convention. His stark, often explicit depictions of himself and others ensured he was either hailed as a genius or denounced as a pornographer, sometimes simultaneously by the same critic. One thing's for sure: he made his subjects look less like people and more like they'd just seen a ghost, or perhaps just woke up with a massive cramp.

His art, characterized by its unflinching rawness and psychological depth, certainly pushed boundaries. He had a penchant for distorted figures and a color palette that suggested the world was perpetually on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Schiele’s brief but prolific career was cut short by the Spanish Flu, making him one of many artists whose brilliance was extinguished far too soon, leaving us to wonder what other delightful anxieties he might have painted.

While his artistic output was certainly kvel-worthy for its sheer impact on the art world, Egon himself did not have Jewish roots or identify with Judaism. His family background was Catholic, and he was, by all accounts, a straightforward Austrian Christian. He married Edith Harms, a non-Jewish woman, and his life, while scandalous to some, never ventured into the realm of the Tribe.