Egon Schiele was a protégé of Klimt. In 1907, when Egon Schiele was still a teenager, he sought out Klimt, his artistic idol, in search of guidance. The duo formed a firm friendship, bonding over their shared interest in figurative art, the erotic, and the modern condition in Vienna. Klimt introduced his student to many galleries and artists, helping to launch his career. Many of Schiele’s early works borrow from Klimt’s singular style, and his 1912 work, Cardinal and Nun (Caress), is a tongue-in-cheek parody of The Kiss. Schiele called his teacher, “an artist of incomparable perfection; a man of rare depth”, and described his art as sacred. In 1913, he produced an unfinished sketch of Klimt in his famous blue smock – the artist always wore this loose fitting garment while painting, with nothing underneath – and in 1917, the two men joined forces to found Vienna’s Kunsthalle (Hall of Art) in an effort to keep local artists from going abroad.