Today, 100 years ago, Egon Schiele died at the age of 28, three days after his wife Edith. Both were struck by the Spanish flu in the autumn of 1918. Edith was six months pregnant with their first child. In 1915 Schiele made this fragile portrait of his wife.

Egon Schiele, Portrait of Edith, 1915

Arno Landewers‎ 20/21 century art & architecture post· Egon Schiele, Portrait of Edith, 1915, collection Gemeentemuseum Den Haag.

Imagine. Dying at 28 years old. Watching your beloved wife and unborn child die before you. It was the great epidemic of Spanish Flu, in 1918. What losses were suffered, what pain was endured. To people surrounded by it, it was the end of days. So many times it has felt like the end of days, yet art and music go on.