Egon Schiele: Portrait of Dr. Erwin von Graff

This unprecedented exhibition considers the relationship between Egon Schiele (1890-1918) and Dr. Erwin von Graff (1878-1952), exploring how the doctor's medical practice and personal support of his artist friend influenced one of the most expressive and psychologically charged bodies of work in modern art.

Between 1910 and his death in 1918, Egon Schiele cultivated a close, formative relationship with Dr. Erwin von Graff —a Vienna-based surgeon and gynecologist who became both friend and collaborator. This is the first exhibition to examine this vital connection. Their friendship began as the result of a favor—Graff assisted with the birth of a child by an acquaintance of the artist (Schiele himself was not the father), Liliana Amon (1892-1966). As an expression of gratitude, Schiele painted a portrait of the doctor.

This contact evolved into a lasting exchange that deeply influenced Schiele’s exploration of the human body, emotional vulnerability, and the complexities of life and death. Graff granted Schiele access to the private realm of patients at the hospital, and the latter went on to create searing and highly expressive renderings of the women and newborn babies that he encountered, capturing these typically overlooked individuals with raw, emotional intensity. This experience expanded into depictions of children and teenagers, especially during the years between 1910 and 1912. Graff was among the first to recognize Schiele’s tremendous artistic potential and amassed a small collection of works by the artist.

The centerpiece of the exhibition is Schiele's 1910 oil on canvas Portrait of Dr. Erwin von Graff, displayed alongside the two existing preparatory sketches on paper. Three preparatory sketches were known to have been made, yet only two are known to survive, all displayed together for the first time in over a decade at the Neue Galerie. These works are accompanied by studies of pregnant women, babies, and children. Approximately 40 works ranging in date from 1910 to 1918 are featured.

The half-length portrait painting shows the doctor in a frontal pose. He looks directly and penetratingly at the viewer. At the time of the portrait, the sitter was thirty-two years old and a very slim, athletic man. Graff is dressed in a short-sleeved white shirt with a stand-up collar that covers his entire neck up to his chin. Over it he wears a bright, skin-colored, sleeveless vest. The top of his trousers is also visible. Graff has adopted the white clothing that was common among hospital physicians. Schiele’s portrait does not show a physician posed like a scholar at his desk but rather one practicing his profession. The doctor appears to have interrupted his activity only briefly to model for the artist and at any moment could put on a white surgical coat and hurry off to an intervention. At the time of the portrait, Graff was primarily a surgeon and had begun working as an auxiliary doctor at Vienna's Second University Women’s Hospital just two years earlier after training in pathological anatomy and surgery. Not until 1911 did he become an assistant physician and begin training as a gynecologist.

“Schiele really came into his own as an artist in 1910, the year he completed the portrait Dr. Erwin von Graff,” said Renée Price, founding Director of Neue Galerie New York. “We consider the Graff painting to be one of the most important works in the extended collection of the museum.” Related and later works will also be included to illustrate Schiele’s artistic development during and following this seminal time in his life.

Graff remained a good friend of Schiele until the very end. He even attended to Schiele in his final hours, giving him an injection to ease his suffering, as he tragically succumbed to the global flu epidemic in 1918 at the age of twenty-eight—just three days after Edith Schiele, his six months’ pregnant wife, passed away, also a victim of the epidemic.

“Egon Schiele: Portrait of Dr. Erwin von Graff” is organized by Neue Galerie New York. The show is curated by Neue Galerie Director, Renée Price and Janis Staggs, Director of Curatorial, Neue Galerie New York.

LEARN MORE

Exhibition Catalogue (Coming Soon)
The exhibition will be accompanied by a richly illustrated publication authored by Elisabeth Dutz, Chief Curator of the Graphic Art Collection at the Albertina Museum in Vienna and designed by Bill Loccisano. Through Von Graff’s private diary and newly uncovered archival material, including never-before-seen photographs and documents, Dutz provides a compelling narrative of creative exchange and trust while illuminating a significant chapter in Schiele’s development. This show and its related catalogue will be of great interest to admirers and scholars of Schiele and will deepen the understanding of his oeuvre and the relationships that helped shape it.

Download the Digital Guide (Coming Soon)
Hear curatorial insights on key works in the exhibition.