Egon Schiele: Dangerous Desire

Struck down by the Spanish Flu in 1918, aged just 28, in his short life Egon Schiele created over 3000 drawings and paintings, self-portraits and nudes. 　　Agent provocateur of the modernist era, he was a taboo busting rebel whose art looks like it was made yesterday: self-obsessed, exhibitionist, unafraid to confront questions of sexuality and identity. 　　To mark the anniversary of Schiele’s death, a century ago, this film tells Schiele’s dramatic story in his own words, using original letters and writings, many of them translated for the first time: celebrating his remarkable artistic achievements but also debating the controversies around his work. 　　His sexually frank images shocked early 20th century Vienna and still challenge us today. But are these the images of empowered women in control - or figures of of voyeurism? 　　Schiele didn’t just make ground-breaking art. He was also a new kind of artist, carefully crafting his own myth, pioneering the notion of the artist as personality and performer in a way that would influence generations of other cultural trailblazers. Some of them, including Iggy Pop, also appear in the film.