The Family (Schiele)
The Family, or Die Familie in German, is one of the last oil paintings by Austrian artist Egon Schiele. He died of Spanish flu on 31 October 1918. The painting measures 152.5 by 162.5 cm and is in the Belvedere Gallery in Vienna.
Originally titled Crouching Couple, it shows Schiele and a naked woman squatting with their knees raised. The composition forms a solid pyramid: the woman sits on the floor, looking to her left with her arms by her sides; the man is on a bed or couch, slightly elevated, looking at the viewer, with his left arm on his knee and his right hand across his heart.
The model for the woman is not Edith, Schiele’s wife, but may be his former lover Wally Neuzil. Edith was pregnant at the time, and later Schiele overpainted a bouquet of flowers placed between the woman’s legs with a wrapped child modeled by his nephew Toni.
Parts of the painting appear unfinished, including the man’s left hand. Schiele’s light duties in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I allowed him to continue painting and exhibiting.
The work was shown at the 49th Vienna Secession exhibition in 1918, for which Schiele also designed the poster. The exhibition included 19 paintings and 24 drawings. After the death of Gustav Klimt earlier in 1918, Schiele was one of Vienna’s leading painters.
Edith Schiele died of Spanish flu on 28 October 1918, six months into her pregnancy; the child did not survive, and Schiele died three days later.
The Belvedere acquired the painting in 1948 from Austrian artist Hans Böhler, who was living in the United States.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 12:11 (CET).