Death and the Maiden

Name: Death and the Maiden
Brand: Egon Schiele
SKU: death-and-the-maiden
Price: 222 USD
Availability: InStock

Egon Schiele

Item Number: 30575

$

Egon Schiele paints two intertwined figures — a young woman with red hair embracing a thin skeletal figure of Death, both lying together on a small bed of rumpled white sheets in a stripped landscape....

Full Description

✈️ Free Worldwide Shipping & Production Times
Total Estimated Delivery: 24–46 Business Days

Since this is a 100% hand-painted artwork made to order, delivery takes a bit longer than mass-produced prints. Here is the exact breakdown:

Processing (14–21 Business Days): Our artists craft and hand-paint your piece. High-quality oil paintings require time for layers to dry properly to ensure they arrive in perfect condition.

Shipping Transit: Once your painting passes quality control, it is handed over to our reliable shipping partners.

USA, Canada & Europe: 10–20 business days

Australia & Rest of World: 15–25 business days

Customs Note: International orders may be subject to import duties/taxes, which are the buyer's responsibility.
🛡️ 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee & Returns
We want your purchase experience to be as easy as possible! You have 30 days after receiving your item to request a return.

Standard Artworks: Eligible for return within 30 days (must be new, unused, and in original packaging). For "change of mind" returns, the buyer covers return shipping costs. We do not charge any restocking fees.

Damaged or Defective Items: If your art arrives damaged, contact us immediately. We will offer a free replacement or a full refund and cover any return shipping costs.

Custom & Personalized Orders: Due to their unique nature, portraits and custom-modified artworks are final sale and cannot be returned unless they arrive damaged.

Cancellations: You may cancel your order for free within 24 hours of purchase.

To start a return, simply contact us at info@tryartwork.com.
🎨 100% Hand-Painted Oil Art

This is NOT a print. You are purchasing a genuine, hand-painted oil reproduction created by a skilled artist.

We use museum-quality canvas and rich oil paints to capture the texture, depth, and soul of the original masterpiece. Every brushstroke is applied by hand, making your artwork truly unique.

Our benefits

100% Hand-Painted Oil
Free Worldwide Shipping
Museum-Quality Standards

Features “Death and the Maiden” by Egon Schiele

Overview
Author	Egon Schiele

Did you see an error in the description or specifications? Let us know about it!

Report an error

Description “Death and the Maiden” by Egon Schiele

Egon Schiele paints two intertwined figures — a young woman with red hair embracing a thin skeletal figure of Death, both lying together on a small bed of rumpled white sheets in a stripped landscape. The colour is held to warm flesh of the woman, deep dark of Death's robe, and a dusky cool brown of the surrounding ground.

In a home, this is a private rather than public image and suits a quiet considered space — a bedroom wall, a small sitting room, a study near a writing desk — rather than a busy reception room. The horizontal proportion fits well above a low chest.

The painting belongs to Schiele's mature 1915 figure practice. As a hand-painted canvas reproduction, the warm flesh and the deep dark of Death's robe depend on real paint to keep their contrast. A slim dark wood or thin warm-walnut frame is the most coherent pairing. A photo of the finished canvas is shared with the buyer before dispatch. A second photograph at oblique angle is shared so surface texture is visible.

Collector's Guide PDF “Death and the Maiden” by Egon Schiele

Death and the Maiden — Collector's Guide (PDF)

Reviews “Death and the Maiden” by Egon Schiele

Add your review

Q/A “Death and the Maiden” by Egon Schiele

Experts answer questions

Add your questions

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Schiele's "Death and the Maiden" depict, and what is its emotional subject?

The painting shows a skeletal male figure embracing a young woman who clings to him — a modern, Expressionist reimagining of the "Death and the Maiden" tradition, an allegorical subject in which the beautiful young woman is claimed by Death. For Schiele, the image was deeply personal: the male figure is recognizably himself, and the work was made in the context of his painful separation from his long-term companion Wally Neuzil.
What are the defining technical qualities of Schiele's treatment of this subject?

Schiele uses his characteristic angular, contorted line and an earthy palette of ochres, browns, and blacks to create figures that feel simultaneously flesh and skeleton — the male figure's skull-like face and the woman's desperate embrace creating an image of love inseparable from death. The white sheet-like ground on which they kneel suggests both a bed and a burial shroud.
What was the personal and biographical context for this painting?

Schiele painted "Death and the Maiden" in 1915, the year he ended his relationship with Wally Neuzil and married Edith Harms — a decision driven partly by social convention and partly by his desire for bourgeois stability. The painting's despairing embrace and the skeletal self-portrait reflect the guilt and loss of that decision, making it one of the most personally revealing works of his short career.
How does this painting work in a home or studio space for collectors of Expressionist art?

The painting creates a dark, emotionally intense atmosphere suited to private studios, libraries, or personal spaces where Expressionist art of genuine psychological depth and biographical transparency is valued. Its combination of beauty and anguish makes it one of the most unforgettable works of early 20th-century Austrian art.

Additional Information “Death and the Maiden” by Egon Schiele

“Schiele painted love as inseparable from death.” Alessandra Comini

“In this embrace, passion and mortality become one.” Jane Kallir

“Schiele confessed his guilt through paint.” Reinhard Steiner

“Death holds the maiden with terrible tenderness.” Wolfgang Fischer

“Schiele made personal tragedy into universal truth.” Patrick Werkner

#1. Self-Portrait. Schiele depicted himself as Death embracing a woman, likely his lover Wally Neuzil.

#2. Relationship End. The painting may represent Schiele's guilt over leaving Wally to marry another woman.

#3. Medieval Theme. The Death and the Maiden motif comes from medieval art and poetry.

#4. Expressionist Intensity. The raw emotional power typifies Schiele's Expressionist approach.

#5. Short Life. Schiele himself died young in 1918, making his death imagery prophetic.

Place this work in a study, a formal living room, or a wide hallway. Allow generous wall space on either side; the composition needs room to breathe. It belongs in modern-classic settings, near brushed brass lamps and pale plaster walls. It earns a wall of its own; surrounding artwork pulls against its visual gravity. The work rewards both a casual passing glance and a long, close inspection.

A studio reproducing this work focuses on the spatial composition and the play of light on armor and fabric. Each pass of paint is allowed to settle into the previous; impatience flattens the surface. Dramatic scenes are carried by gesture; clean staging matters more than ornament. Painted on canvas in oil, the result aims to feel close to the artist's touch.

The painter builds the view in clear visual layers. The palette is held in close range, the painter favoring tonal modulation over high contrast. Light is handled with restraint, modeling rather than dramatizing the forms. The painter's hand is present without dominating the image, paint and drawing balanced. From across a room the silhouette holds; up close the small touches do the secondary work. Drawing and paint application remain in dialogue across the whole scene.