Egon Schiele. Beyond taboos

Portrait of one of the most provocative artists of the 20th century. The documentary explores his turbulent life, relationships and scandals, and shows how through his body and eroticism he talked about loneliness, passing and death.

Egon Schiele died at just 28 years old, and yet he managed to create works that forever changed the history of art. Coming from the Austro-Hungarian province, the artist broke the existing conventions, provoked and aroused extreme emotions. He was accused of spreading pornography, his work caused scandals and today his paintings are in the most important museums of the world. In characteristic, uncompromising depictions of the human body, Schiele combined eroticism, loneliness, fear, transience and death. “Egon Schiele. Beyond Taboo” not only looks at the work of one of the precursors of expressionism, but above all tries to understand the man behind it. The film takes you through the places, experiences and relationships that shape his sensitivity—from decadent Vienna and secessionist Prague to Bohemian Krumlov and Austrian Neulengbach, where his presence and art degraded the local community.An important part of the story are the women present in Schiele's life: his sister Gerti, muse and lover Valerie Neuzil, and later wife Edith Harms. The documentary also looks at the artist's difficult relationship with his mother, from whom he received no interest or recognition for his talent. The need to be seen and understood became one of the driving impulses of his work. Schiele was creating at an extremely turbulent moment in history — in a world of crumbling bourgeois principles, rapid social and artistic changes, and the crumbling Austro-Hungarian empire. The creators of the film compare his sensitivity with the work of Franz Kafka. Both were fascinated by the carnal, sexuality and death, both lived in the shadow of the coming catastrophe and both left behind works that radically changed the way of looking at man. “Egon Schiele. Beyond Taboo” also allows you to see up close his most important works, including works in Vienna's Leopold Museum, which has the largest collection of his paintings in the world. This is the story of an artist who, through nudity, tried to reach much deeper than the human body - to the most intimate, fragile and defenseless. And that is why, more than a century after his death, his art still manages to disturb and fascinate.