How Egon Schiele and Jean-Michel Basquiat changed the art world forever
Both prolific, both revolutionary, both dead at 28: Schiele and Basquiat, working at opposite ends of the C20th, single handily changed the course of art history.
Both artists sought to obliterate tradition, expectation and historical representations of human identity. Both sought to express the distress of human existence with aggressive distortions of the body. For both artists, line became the symbolic border between life and death and loss and trauma.
To mark the centenary of Schiele's death and the 30th anniversary of Basquiat's death, the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, presents a major comparative showcase of their work. With many pieces never seen before in Europe, this artistic extravaganza (2 Oct 18 - 14 Jan 19) certainly merits a trip to Paris.
In five works, here's how Schiele and Basquiat changed the art world forever.
In early 20th-century bohemian Vienna, Schiele challenged the notion of the 'ideal nude', distorting the body to produce the most erotic art on the market.
Schiele's bold experimentation with the human form and human sexuality soon attracted the attention of Expressionist master Gustav Klimt. Taking Schiele under his wing, Klimt mentored the young artist in his early years, asking Shiele to exhibit with him in the 1909 Vienna Kunstschau exhibition. Despite Klimt’s 28-year seniority, they would go on to enjoy an intimate friendship, sharing their patrons, mistresses and muses.
While many of Klimt’s drawings were made in preparation for his paintings, Schiele valued his drawings in-and-of-themselves, selling them as independent works of art.