Born on March 3, 1926, in Vienna, the later ophthalmologist met her future husband Rudolf during her medical studies, whom she married in 1953. She accompanied him on his art trips and supported him in his collecting activities. The more than 5,000 artworks collected since the 1950s, which include the world’s largest collection of Schiele works as well as paintings by Klimt, Kokoschka, and Egger-Lienz, were incorporated into a foundation in 1994 – in exchange for the assurance that the Republic would build a museum for the collection. Since 2001, parts of it have been accessible to the public thanks to the Leopold Museum in Vienna’s museum quarter.
In the beginning of their collecting passion, the Leopolds had to endure some remarks due to their preferences. “A professor once said: ‘You collect Schiele? Well, you really have a knack for that,’” the art lover recalled a few years ago. At that time, Schiele was not considered significant.
The works of this now giant of painting were also at the center of some restitution cases that occupied the collecting couple for years – keywords “Portrait of Wally” or “Houses by the Sea.” To meet the settlement payments, the museum had to sell other Schiele works.
Since her husband’s death, Elisabeth Leopold, who was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art 1st Class as well as the Golden Merit Medal of the State of Vienna in 2017, was a lifelong board member of the Leopold Museum Private Foundation. However, for reasons of age, she stepped down from this position two years ago.
In the exhibition house itself, she repeatedly served as a co-curator – for example, for the exhibition “Naked Men” (2012), which caused a stir and excitement, including covered penises on the poster. Leopold herself demonstrated a considerable degree of composure at the time. “As a doctor and an old wife, I can find nothing peculiar about the male sex,” she told the APA. She also captivated audiences during numerous tours “with her enthusiasm and knowledge of art and artists, knowledge that was always supported by a sensual recognition of quality,” as the family emphasized.
Even in her old age, Leopold was anything but retired. At the end of 2020, she celebrated the completion of a decades-long mammoth project: The standard work “Egon Schiele. Paintings – Watercolors – Drawings,” published by Rudolf Leopold in 1972 and soon out of print, was able to be reissued as an updated and expanded edition. She undertook many cultural trips with the Friends of the Leopold Museum well into her old age.
“Elisabeth Leopold was less concerned with names and art-historical constructs, but rather with the direct access, with being openly addressed by the respective artwork,” wrote the family in the obituary. At the same time, she had been the centerpiece of the family throughout her life, ensuring the cohesion of the prominent personalities in the family through all the difficulties of a collector’s household. “Above all, she always supported her husband and his museum project and, even in her old age, never tired of highlighting his accomplishments and art knowledge, from which she herself, as she said, learned so much and carried forward.”
(SERVICE – Internet: )