Мёртвый город III

Schiele painted this small panel in 1911, looking down on the Bohemian town of Krumau, today Cesky Krumlov, from the hill above it. It was his mother's hometown, and he had spent time there the year before with friends, trying to settle in. The town wanted little to do with him. He was living openly with his young model, and the locals eventually pushed him out. What he made of the place shows in the title. The houses pile up along the dark river with their windows blacked out and not a single person in sight, a real town painted as if abandoned. He called this the version with his most serious colours, the roofs and walls pulled down to earthy browns and pale whites against that cold blue-black water.