Schiele was born on June 12, 1890 in Austria, and between 1906 and 1909 he attended the Art Academy of Vienna, where he studied painting and drawing. In 1909, he co-founded the art group "Neukunstgruppe" (group of new art) and was influenced by the works of Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Munch and Hodler. His friendship with Klimt influenced of his work he is still known as one of the greatest figurative artists of the early 20th century. Schiele drifted appart from Jugendstil and developed his own style by drawing characters and disorganized bodies. He received harsh critics because of his innovative way of drawing.
The Austrian painter's life was rather short: Schiele died at age 28, on October 31, 1918 in Vienna, only two days after his wife, also from the Spanish flu. However, his artistic production is enormous and counts about 340 paintings and 2800 drawings and watercolors.