Richard Gerstl was born on September 14, 1883 in Vienna, Austria, in a prosperous civil family. His parents were Emil Moses Gerstl, a Jewish merchant, and Maria (Pfeiffer) Gerstl, non-Jewish woman. He had two brothers, Augustus and Alois Gerstl.
After performing poorly in school and being forced to leave the famed Piaristengymnasium in Vienna as a result of "disciplinary difficulties," his financially stable parents provided him with private tutors. In 1898, at the age of fifteen, Gerstl was accepted into the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, where he studied under the notoriously opinionated and difficult Christian Griepenkerl. Gerstl began to reject the style of the Vienna Secession and what he felt was pretentious art.
But frustrated with the lack of acceptance of his non-secessionist painting style, Gerstl continued to paint without any formal guidance for two years. For the summers of 1900 and 1901, he studied under the guidance of Simon Hollósy. Inspired by the more liberal leanings of Heinrich Lefler, Gerstl once again attempted formal education. Unfortunately, his refusal to participate in a procession in honor of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria further ostracized him and led to his departure.
In 1904 and 1905, Gerstl shared a studio with his former academy classmate and friend, Viktor Hammer. By 1906, Gerstl had acquired his own studio.
Gerstl frequented concerts in Vienna and around 1907, he began to associate with composers Arnold Schoenberg and Alexander von Zemlinsky. Gerstl and Schoenberg developed a mutual admiration based upon their individual talents. Gerstl apparently instructed Schoenberg in art.
During this time, Gerstl painted several portraits of Schoenberg, his family, and his friends. These portraits also included paintings of Schoenberg's wife Mathilde, Alban Berg and Zemlinsky. His highly stylized heads anticipated German expressionism and used pastels as in the works by Oskar Kokoschka.
During the night of 4 November 1908, Gerstl entered his studio and apparently burned every letter and piece of paper he could find. Although many paintings survived the fire, it is believed that a great deal of his artwork as well as personal papers and letters were destroyed. Other than his paintings, only eight drawings are known to have survived unscathed. Following the burning of his papers, Gerstl hanged himself in front of the studio mirror and somehow managed to stab himself as well.
He is buried at the Friedhof Sievering in Vienna, Austria.
After his suicide at the age of twenty-five, his family took the surviving paintings out of Gerstl's studio and stored them in a warehouse until his brother Alois showed them to the art dealer Otto Kallir in 1930 or 1931. Although Gerstl had never managed to exhibit a show during his lifetime, Kallir organized an exhibition at his Neue Galerie. Shortly afterward, the Nazi presence in Austria hindered the further acclaim of the artist and it was not until after the war that Gerstl was known in the United States.
Richard Gerstl was known for his expressive psychologically insightful portraits. Sixty-six paintings and eight drawings attributed to Gerstl are known, although it is possible that he destroyed many more or that others could have been lost over the years.
Among his most famous works were "Portrait of Arnold Schonberg" and "Self-portrait in front of blue background".
Child's Portrait
Group portrait with Schönberg
Tree with Ladder
View of the park
Fruit Tree
Orchard
Study of tree
Waldemar Unger I
Seated Female Nude
Fragment of a smiling self-portrait at full length
Portrait of a Lieutenant (Alois Gerstl)
Self-Portrait Laughing
Portrait of a seated man
Landscape study
Self-Portrait
Self-Portrait
Fragment of a smiling self-portrait at full length, detail
Head of a Woman
Emile Gerstl (father)
Room
Self-Portrait
Self-Portrait
Grinzing
Sunny meadow with fruit trees
The road (theme from Nussdorf)
Tree in the garden
Woman with Feathered Hat
Self-Portrait
Small street (Nußdorferstraße)
Self-Portrait
Carl Zentzytzki
The Fey Sisters (Karoline & Pauline)
Seated Woman in green dress
Waldemar Unger II
Self-Portrait with Palette
Mathilde Schoenberg in Garden
Self-Portrait in Front of the Stove
Mother and Daughter
Flowering Meadow with Trees
Half-length portrait of Mathilde Schoenberg
Portrait of a Young Woman with Feather Hat
On the Danube Canal
Schonberg Family
Embankment near Gmunden
Double Portrait (green background)
Self-portrait in front of blue background
Small Self-Portrait
Self-portrait with Blue Spotted Background
Self Portrait (Nude in a full figure)
Smaragda Berg
Small Traunsee Landscape
Portrait of Henryka Cohn
Double portrait of Matilda and Gertrude Schonberg
Fragment of a Self-Portrait
Portrait of Arnold Schonberg
Portrait of Mother, Maria Gerstl, unfinished
Alexander von Zemlinsky
Anna Baumer
Johann Georg Prillinger
Mathilde in the studio
Self-Portrait (Study)
Self-Portrait
The singer Oberländer
Portrait of a gentleman (green background)
Liechtenstein Palace
Meadow with Houses in Background
Lake Traunsee with the Schlafende Griechin mountain
Nude in Garden
Portrait of a Gentleman
Ernst Diez I
Ideal image of Trude Geiringer
Self-Portrait
Railway to the Kahlenberg
Tree on Lake Traun
Mathilde Schoenberg II
Gerstl and Schoenberg's wife Mathilde became extremely close and, in the summer of 1908, she left her husband and children to travel to Vienna with Gerstl. But in October 1908, Mathilde rejoined her husband.
