Self-Portrait with Raised Bare Shoulder

1912 · Leopold Museum, Vienna

portrait

In a brief life cut short by the Spanish flu, Egon Schiele managed to create an oeuvre that was both symptomatic of and groundbreaking for his times, making him one of the most formative and colourful figures of Viennese Modernism. With his sensational, partly-celebrated, partly-demonized appearances on the Viennese art scene, Schiele became the spokesman for a generation of young, ambitious artists in the years to come. At the centre of his artistic interest was the contemplation of his own existence, as reflected in countless self-portraits as well as landscapes and cityscapes.

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About the Artist

Egon Schiele

1890 – 1918

Austrian painter, draughtsman and printmaker. He is, with Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980), one of the major figures of Austrian Expressionism, despite the brevity of his artistic career, which lasted only about ten years. While remaining faithful to the initial influences on his work of the Vienna Secession, and in particular of the art of Gustav Klimt, he developed a personal and expressive style. He introduced psychologically and sexually intense subject matter that was radical in its subjectivity and highly influential on later generations of artists. His distinctly personal style made him one of the most important representatives of early Viennese Expressionism. His oeuvre includes landscapes, portraits, and above all, nudes, which were considered scandalous in his day.

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