Oskar Kokoschka was born in Pochlarn, the second child of Gustav Josef Kokoschka, a Czech jeweler, and Maria Romana Kokoschka (née Loidl). His older sibling died while he was a child. Berta, his sister, was born in 1889, and Bohuslav, his brother, in 1892. They had another brother, Jan, who died in infancy. The family lived in Vienna during the years when Oskar Kokoschka was being educated at the Stadt-Schule. His father ran into financial difficulties and moved to Prague. There he started a new business - making artificial flowers for balls and weddings. Oskar's mother took in sewing to help make ends meet. He spent many hours playing with her sewing machine as she worked. This is how he learned to sew. When Oskar was nine years old, his father died from tuberculosis. Since there were no funds to be made by the funeral, his mother was forced to sell some of their belongings to pay for it. She sold three paintings by her husband that now hang in the Austrian National Gallery in Vienna. These are the only known works by Kokoschka's father. After the death of his father, Oskar Kokoschka and his mother moved in with her parents so they could all live more cheaply. Her father was a retired army officer who spoke several languages. Her mother taught piano lessons.