Egon Schiele:
Portrait of Melanie Schiele (Bildnis Melanie Schiele), 1906
Sanguine, charcoal, and pencil on paper
47.2 × 31.5 cm
Private collection
(Kallir d7)

There is a striking, classical poise in Egon Schiele’s Portrait of Melanie Schiele (Bildnis Melanie Schiele), an early masterpiece drawn with deep familial devotion in the early autumn of 1906. Executed primarily in warm, reddish sanguine and charcoal, this sheet captures the artist’s sister when Egon was just sixteen years old. The masterful use of sanguine brings a delicate, living warmth to Melanie’s facial features and neck, while the dark, rich charcoal lines provide a heavy, sculptural elegance to her elaborately coiffed hair. Unlike the raw, fragmented bodies that would define his later years, this portrait centers on a polished, academic restraint, showing a young draftsman who had already achieved a spectacular technical authority over his materials.

Melanie held a deeply profound and protective place in Schiele’s early life. Following the tragic loss of their oldest sister Elvira, who died of meningitis at just ten years old in 1893, Melanie became the eldest surviving sibling in a household soon shattered by their father’s descent into madness and untimely death in 1905. While their younger sister Gerti would famously become Egon’s primary muse in his mature expressionist period, it was Melanie who served as his very first, frequent model in these formative years. Her steadfast emotional support and early confidante status during these turbulent years were anchored by her patient willingness to pose for his endless technical exercises. Her fierce loyalty to her brother’s budding genius is beautifully reflected in the reverence with which this specific drawing was handled.

What makes this specific drawing incredibly significant for our collection is that its publication marks a major milestone: the completion of Schiele’s legendary 1906 Academy admission trilogy on our website. To satisfy the rigorous entrance requirements of the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, the sixteen-year-old artist submitted a carefully chosen trio of drawings. Alongside this tender depiction of his sister Melanie, the committee examined the intimate portrait of his mother, Marie Schiele (Kallir d6), and a portrait of the family charwoman, Resi—represented in the Kallir catalog by either entry d10 or d11, as the exact sheet remains historically unconfirmed.

By exploring these companion pieces together on this platform, you can trace the exact foundation of Schiele’s formal training. Originally preserved directly within the estate of Melanie Schiele-Schuster, this rare portrait stands as a beautiful testament to the early, trusting bond between the artist and his family—a quiet moment of harmony just before Schiele’s visual language shifted into the radical, emotional isolation of Austrian Expressionism.