District Court Neulengbach

In 1912, Egon Schiele spent 21 days in Neulengbach in a cellar cell in the Neulengbach district court. He was charged with kidnapping, abuse and presenting indecent drawings. In the end, he was only convicted because he had presented a nude depiction in his home in such a way that it could be seen by visitors.

This incident became known as the ‘Neulengbach affair’. Wally is with him during this turmoil and supports him to the best of her ability. It is she who sends him the orange through the prison window that Schiele captures in the watercolour ‘The orange was the only light’. Nevertheless, Wally was never accepted as a serious relationship for the artist in Schiele's circle. They never progressed beyond the status of a love affair. Her fate is tragic. Two years after Schiele ended the relationship, she died as a wartime nurse in Dalmatia.

Alessandra Comini discovered the cellar cell in the Neulengbach district court on 27 August 1963. Via a staircase leading to the cellar, she reached a corridor that looked exactly like Schiele's precise drawings. The fact that she discovered the exact cell in which Egon Schiele was sitting was also thanks to his detailed drawings of the cell door.

The district court in Neulengbach can be visited daily with free admission.
Opening hours: 9:00 - 17:00
More Info