The art academy failed to recognise his talent; he rejected the contemporary art scene in Vienna; and his visionary work was largely neglected during his lifetime: the painter Richard Gerstl (18831908), whose creative period lasted for just four intensive years, is regarded today as one of the most important representatives of Austrian Expressionism for his portraits and landscapes. With his early pictures Self-Portrait against a Blue Background and The Sisters Karoline and Pauline Frey Richard Gerstl began to create an oeuvre which was well ahead of his times and which made him one of the pioneers of Abstract Expressionism. In 1906 Gerstl met the musician Arnold Schönberg. He embarked upon an affair with the latters wife Mathilde, who briefly left her husband but then returned to him in 1908. Gerstl not only lost his lover but was also socially isolated; he committed suicide during that same year. His work sank into oblivion and it was only twenty years later that it was presented to the public by the Viennese art dealer Otto Kallir-Nirenstein for the first time: Gerstl had never exhibited his paintings during his lifetime.

Mit seinen frühen Bildern Selbstbildnis vor blauem Hintergrund und Die Schwestern Karoline und Pauline Frey begann Richard Gerstl ein Werk zu schaffen, das seiner Zeit weit voraus war und ihn zu einem Vorreiter des Abstrakten Expressionismus machte. 1906 lernt Gerstl den Musiker Arnold Schönberg kennen. Er beginnt eine Affäre mit dessen Frau Mathilde, die für kurze Zeit ihren Mann verlässt, jedoch 1908 zu ihm zurückkehrt. Damit verliert Gerstl nicht nur seine Geliebte, sondern ist auch gesellschaftlich isoliert, noch im gleichen Jahr nimmt er sich das Leben. Sein Werk gerät in Vergessenheit, erst 20 Jahre später wird es durch den Wiener Kunsthändler Otto Kallir-Nirenstein der Öffentlichkeit vorgestellt - zum ersten Mal, denn Gerstl hatte zu Lebzeiten nie ausgestellt. Heute befindet sich die umfangreichste Sammlung Richard Gerstls Werke im Leopold Museum, Wien.