The Painting That Set Egon Schiele's Auction Record

Egon Schiele's Häuser Mit Bunter Wäsche (Vorstadt II) Houses With Laundry (Suburb II) (1914) sold for $39.62m (£24.68m) at Sotheby's in London on June 22, 2011. The oil on canvas work had been traded three times in the past.

Schiele often painted and drew the old town of Krumau (present day Cesky Krumlov), which he used as a retreat from Vienna. He was particularly fond of the high-level views of houses from the left bank of the Moldau River, which runs past the old town.

Schiele once told one friend that this bird's-eye perspective influenced all his work, including his nudes, which he often drew from the vantage point of a tall stool or ladder.

The landscape was first owned by Heinrich Böhler, an heir to a steel fortune, who became Schiele's student, patron and prolific collector. Böhler owned seven oil paintings by Schiele, as well as numerous works on paper.

In 1952, the painting was acquired by the controversial Austrian collector and museum founder Rudolf Leopold, a champion of Schiele's work, whose due dilgence left something to be desired. There were no provenance problems with Houses With Laundry, unlike another of the artist's painting, a portrait of his partner and model Walburga "Wally" Neuzil, with whom he stayed in Krumau. They raised eyebrows as they were an unmarried couple.

The Leopold Museum eventually agreed a $19m settlement with the heirs of the owner of The Portrait of Wally Neuzil, which had been looted by the Nazis.

The sale beat the Schiele’s previous auction record by $19.62m, a 98% rise. His previous record was set by another painting of Krumau, Einzelne Häuser (Häuser Mit Bergen) (recto) Individual Houses (Houses with Mountains); Mönch I (fragment; Verso) (1915), which sold for $20m at Christie's on November 8, 2006. The work had been traded 6 times in the past.

A Brief History of Schiele at Auction