At the age of 15 years, Marie Egner moved with her family to Graz where she became the pupil of the painter Reichsfreiherr Hermann von Königsbrunn who also had come from Radkersburg. She remarked in her diary: "The academy cheers me up… working becomes more and more interesting. I mainly copy etchings of the old masters and realize that my painting improves more and more."

Egner was educated in two directions: Her teachers made her produce copies of distinguished models and she had to draw after nature. Even the most common is inspiring and stimulating …"what wealth of poetry is hidden in the smallest and least detail of nature, which we all see, however do not pay attention to." Martin Suppan, Erich Tromayer, Marie Egner, Vienna 1981, Vol. 1, p 16 and 22; Martin Suppan, Rupert Feuchtmüller, Marie Egner, Vienna 1993, Vol. 2, p. 10)...