Follow the floor markings in the shape of railroad tracks along the 13 stations on the Egon Schiele Trail.
Station 1: Tulln Train Station
Birthplace, or: Egon and the Old Steam Locomotives
Here you’ll learn: What Egon rebelled against. Why he puffed and whistled on the platform. Why his childhood drawings went up in flames. And how his parents’ parlor became a railroad track.
Summer 1890. Egon Leo Adolf Schiele is born at the Tulln train station. His father, Adolf, is the stationmaster there—an imposing man in uniform with a sword and a top hat. His mother, Marie, runs a stately household. But Egon is a little rebel. Barely out of diapers, he picks up a crayon. His favorite spot: the windowsill. His favorite subject: the train station. Egon draws everything he sees. And imitates everything he hears. The hissing of the steam locomotive. The train conductor’s whistle. Soon, however, his sketchpad becomes too small for him. He draws railroad tracks all over the apartment, decorating the walls with his pictures—until his parents intervene, and Egon’s sketches end up in the fire.
2nd Stop: At the Heisselgarten
A Father’s Love, or: Egon and the Mysterious Visitor
Here you’ll learn: When Egon encountered death. Why he conversed with an invisible guest. How valuable railroad stocks ended up in the fire. And why the Schiele family had to leave the Tulln train station.
Death enters Egon’s family at an early age. In 1893, Elvira, his older sister, dies. He is three years old at the time. He senses his parents’ grief. And the feeling of being abandoned. But that is not the only blow of fate. His beloved father is diagnosed with syphilis. The usually proper stationmaster suddenly neglects his duties. He is confused. He entertains an imaginary friend, whom the family must support. Then the disease strikes with full force. In a fit of delirium, Adolf Schiele burns his railroad stocks—and with them, the family fortune. His employer dismisses him from service and evicts him from his apartment at the Tulln train station. Four months later, he succumbs to his illness. Egon is just fourteen years old at the time.
3. Stop: Old Elementary School
Apprenticeship Years, or: Egon and the Grades Debacle
Here you’ll learn: What Egon got up to in class. Who recognized his artistic talent. Why he failed without actually failing. And why he was too talented for the School of Applied Arts.
Why cram mathematical formulas when you have a thousand images in your head? For Egon, school is torture. For two years, a private tutor struggles to keep up with the young drawing prodigy. But in elementary school, he gets poor grades. He paints instead of doing math. That doesn’t change in high school either. He wants to become an artist. And he almost ends up as a high school dropout. His mother charms the principal: a positive final report card if he leaves school in exchange. Two teachers support his application to the Vienna School of Applied Arts. Then the unthinkable happens: too much talent! They rejected him. And recommended that he attend the Academy of Fine Arts. For young painters, it was Mount Olympus. For Egon, it was the first step toward the artistic life he longed for.
4th Stop: Stadtpfarrkirche
A Matter of Faith, or: Egon and the Apostles’ Gate
Here you’ll learn: What shaped Tulln’s cityscape. Why twelve bishops came to be known as “apostles” in popular parlance. What outraged the parish priest. And how Egon passed the time after school.
The two mighty towers of the City Parish Church rise high above the townhouses of Tulln. Egon’s father is Catholic. An important man in the city. So a Sunday church visit is a must. Anyone entering St. Stephen’s through the west portal is watched by twelve pairs of stone eyes. A dozen Passau bishops adorn the pillars as imposing busts. The people of Tulln still call the portal the “Apostles’ Gate.” And they believe themselves to be well protected. The children, of course, lack respect for the consecrated ground. The church square becomes a playground. What good does it do if the pastor gets indignant? Then everyone runs off, skirts fluttering and schoolbags clattering. Egon is rarely among them. He prefers to hang around the train station grounds. Drawing trains and cars. And dreaming of the wide world.
5th Station: Ossuary
Remembering the Dead, or: Egon and the Mythical Creatures
Here you’ll learn: Why the remains in Tulln were exhumed. What Egon saw in the ossuary. How death and transience found their way onto the canvas. And what role dying played in Egon’s life.
Cemeteries have something eerie about them. Ossuaries are even more eerie. Like the one in the Tulln ossuary. Until the end of the 18th century, the exhumed remains of the dead were kept there in the basement. The cemetery surrounding the parish church is too small. The need for empty graves is too great. The upper floor of the ossuary is actually a cemetery chapel. The depictions on the rounded walls captivate Egon. Dragons. Demons. Mythical creatures. Death is omnipresent here. Just as it is in Egon’s life. His older sister dies when he is just three years old. At fourteen, he loses his beloved father. No wonder that death and transience find their way into many of his works. And become a central motif in Egon’s visual world from an early age.
6th Stop: Wiener Straße
Leaving the City, or: Egon and the Horse-Drawn Carriage
Here you’ll learn: Where people strolled at the turn of the century. Where Egon’s father drove his family. Why the people of Tulln whispered secretly. And why the stationmaster was counted among the town’s dignitaries.
Ladies in their Sunday best. Gentlemen in their overcoats. At the turn of the century, Wiener Straße, with its middle-class shops, was part of Tulln’s promenade. The Schiele family is out and about here, too—though not on foot. For Father Adolf has bought a horse and carriage. His full beard is neatly trimmed beneath his hat with its lavish plume. The boots of his uniform are perfectly polished as he drives his wife and children down Wiener Straße to the main square. The people of Tulln eye them curiously and whisper behind their hands. They say the stationmaster is condescending, and his wife—from a wealthy family—is haughty. Nevertheless, people greet the Schieles. After all, the Franz-Josefs Railway is bringing the modern world to Tulln.
7th Stop: Main Square
Market Square, or: Egon and the Market Vendors
Here you’ll learn: Where the people of Tulln went shopping. What the maids carried to the market. Where Gothic and Baroque styles met. And what the Holy Trinity Column on the main square is meant to commemorate.
Ladies in their Sunday best. Gentlemen in their overcoats. At the turn of the century, Wiener Straße, with its middle-class shops, was part of Tulln’s main shopping street. The Schiele family is also out and about here—though not on foot. Father Adolf has bought a horse and carriage. His full beard is neatly trimmed beneath his hat with its lavish plume. The boots of his uniform are perfectly polished as he drives his wife and children down Wiener Straße to the main square. The people of Tulln eye them curiously and whisper behind closed hands. They say the stationmaster is condescending, and his wife—from a wealthy family—is haughty. Nevertheless, people greet the Schieles. After all, the Franz-Josef Railway is bringing the modern world to Tulln.
8th Stop: Minorite Church
A Display of Splendor, or: Egon and the Martyr
Here you’ll learn: Who angered the King of Bohemia. Why a secretive confessor died a martyr’s death. What secrets the “Seelenloch” (Soul Hole) held. And what connected Egon to Český Krumlov.
It’s quiet in the winding side streets of Tulln’s old town. But life is in full swing on the main square. Around 1900, it was still market day every day. At the crack of dawn, wooden stalls are set up. Fresh fruit and vegetables are piled high. The market women, not one to hold their tongues, loudly tout their wares. First to arrive are the maids from the well-to-do families. Like those of the Schieles. A milk can in one hand. A large shopping basket slung over one arm. Later, the housewives make their way there. Meanwhile, the men pass the time at the cattle and pig market. When the school bell rings, the square comes alive once more. Then the elementary schoolchildren come running. And they play tag around the Trinity Column in the middle of the main square, which is meant to commemorate the many victims of the plague in Tulln in the 17th century.
9th Stop: Egon Schiele Museum
Childhood Years, or: Egon and the Rocking Horse
Here you’ll learn: Why Egon played with dolls. What his mother brought him from Vienna. How the steam locomotive ended up on his drawing paper. And which books his father gave him to read.
For an artist, the whole world is a source of inspiration—even when he’s still in his early years. At the Tulln train station, it’s the iron steam locomotives that spark Egon’s imagination—black behemoths belching thick clouds of smoke into the sky. In contrast, the Minorite Church is filled with gilded ornaments and magnificent opulence. And mysteries that fascinate every child: the story of Saint John of Nepomuk being thrown from the bridge into the Vltava River because he chose to remain silent rather than betray the queen; The replica of a Black Madonna, hidden behind Baroque grilles. And the “Soul Hole” in the lower church, where monks from the monastery found their final resting place. Enough mysterious legends and impressions to make even a long Latin High Mass fly by.
10th Station: Water Cross
Flood or: Egon and the Wooden Crucifix
Here you’ll learn: Why the people of Tulln both loved and hated their river. When Egon saw the Danube burst its banks. Why a water chapel was built. And where the dead recovered from the river were commemorated.
Childhood wasn’t truly “invented” until the 19th century. Before that, children were considered little adults—and cheap labor. Egon is lucky. His family is wealthy. Together with his sisters, he has his own room in his parents’ spacious staff quarters. He’s allowed to draw to his heart’s content. And he receives toys as gifts: a large rocking horse, a teddy bear with black button eyes. Not even his three sisters’ dolls are safe from him. His whole world, of course, consists of the colorfully painted tin cars. And the train sets his mother brings him back from her visits to Vienna. There are 40 of them—more than any other child in town owns. But when Egon draws trains, he does it right in the train station concourse. Because that’s where his father calls the shots.
11th Stop: Römerturm
City History, or: Egon and the Ancient Romans
Here you’ll learn: Why the ancient Romans settled in Tulln. Where merchant ships dropped anchor in the Middle Ages. What Egon’s family owed to the emperor. And how a flanking tower became a salt warehouse.
The Danube has two faces: it is both a lifeline and a river of fate. For centuries, the water has brought visitors from all corners of the world to Tulln, allowing the city to flourish: a Roman camp, a naval base, a Babenberg residence, and a trading center. Yet time and again, floods destroy riverside paths and fields. They flooded the town. They destroyed valuable possessions. Egon witnessed the devastation twice: in 1897 and 1899. Then the people of Tulln made a pilgrimage to their “water cross.” It has stood by the old city wall since 1729. It was venerated by fishermen and boatmen and protected by a small chapel. There, on All Saints’ Day, people commemorate those who have died in the Danube. And they pray to St. John of Nepomuk, the patron saint of water, that the town may be spared from the next ice drift.
12th Stop: Roman Museum
Roman Latin, or: Egon and the Imperial Convent
Here you’ll learn: Why the Dominican nuns had no financial worries. Where madness was at home in Tulln. Why Egon’s father was relieved of his duties. And how the Roman Museum came to be housed in the old convent.
Iron clangs, men bellow, horses neigh. At the Comagenis Fort, the Roman soldiers are always on alert. They protect the Norican Limes from barbarian incursions. Its exposed location right on a Danube ford makes Tulln a strategic transportation hub. In the first century A.D., it served the Roman legions. In the Middle Ages, it served merchants from the north. The fort’s flanking tower was used to secure the landing site for merchant ships. By the time Egon was in school, the Emperor Franz Josef Railway was already in operation. Fast steam locomotives replaced the slow Danube ships. An iron railroad bridge spanned the river. Egon’s father became a figure of respect as the stationmaster of the district capital. And the old Roman tower served the people of Tulln only as an armory and salt warehouse.
13th Stop: “
” Cemetery
Life’s Ruptures, or: Egon and the Broken Chain
Here you’ll learn: What shaped Egon’s childhood. Why he didn’t start school until he was 8. Why money was tight at home. And how he later freed himself from the chains of convention.
The noble young ladies at the imperial convent in Tulln enjoy good connections. The Dominican convent was founded in 1280. Later, Frederick III granted them numerous privileges. There were no financial worries, as the nuns contributed their dowries. But then a fire destroyed the convent and the church. During the reconstruction, the nuns went into debt. No money, no convent life. In Egon’s time, a sanatorium was housed here. Many patients suffered from delusions. “Suffering from madness,” say the people of Tulln. Like Egon’s father, who suffers from the long-term effects of syphilis. Eighty years after Egon’s death, the convent is repurposed once again. In 2001, the Roman Museum opens its doors there, featuring artifacts from Comagenis, the former cavalry fort on the banks of the Danube.
