After his father’s death from syphilis on New Year’s Eve 1904, the then 14-year-old Schiele was the only male member of the family. While his mother wished for him to settle into a stable career, Schiele would not abandon his passion for art. This led to frequent conflicts between the two, leaving Schiele with a childhood largely devoid of warm emotional connection.

His ambivalent relationship with his mother may be due to this situation, as may his close relationship with his sister Gertrude. Above all, the repeated depiction of mother figures often combines aspects of his unstable relationship with his mother and death, a central theme in Schiele’s artistic oeuvre.