Wally (Schiele)

Portrait of Walburga Neuzil, usually called Wally for short, is the name of a portrait Austrian painter Egon Schiele (1890–1918) created in 1912. It is done in the expressionist style. It is painted in oil on wood. Its size is 32.7 × 39.8 centimeters. It shows his lover at the time, Walburga Neuzil .

Wally by Egon Schiele, oil on wood, 1912

For many years, the painting was also incorrectly called Portrait of Valerie Neuziel in specialist literature. In 1998, the Leopold Museum sent it to the Museum of Modern Art in New York, for an exhibition. Because of its history, it was treated as looted art, and a long legal battle followed. The court procedings lasted for 12 years. In July 2010, an out of court settlement was reached, and after the payment of 19 million US dollars, the painting was returned to Vienna.

Valerie Neuziel (1894-1917) was Schiele's lover, from 1912 to 1915. In 1915, Schiele married Edith Harms, which ended this relatzionship. After the separation, Wally trained as a nurse and went to Dalmatia in 1917. On December 25, she diied of scarlet fever.

Other websites

• Sammlung Leopold Hauptwerke: Egon Schiele, Bildnis Wally Neuzil
• Tattendorf.at: Bildnis Wally Archived 2010-08-30 at the Wayback Machine (Persönliche Stationen Wally Neuziels)