Details
The image
A portrait drawn with a hard, nervous line: the head slightly turned, the shoulders cut by the edge of the sheet, the body reduced to a few angular planes. Colour is applied sparingly, often just enough to make the skin and the background disagree. Nothing is softened.
Where it comes from
Egon Schiele drew and painted the human body with an intensity that his contemporaries found indecent: thin figures, awkward poses, hands that look like they are gripping something invisible. He died in 1918 at twenty-eight and his work entered the public domain in Europe in 1989. Exhibition posters of his portraits reproduce that confrontation rather than tidying it.
On the wall
It holds a room with a certain tension, so it suits a study, a hallway or a bedroom with simple furniture. Because the line is the subject, it needs light and a wall that is not too busy. In a group it should be given space, the face needs air around it to keep its force.
In company
Pairs well with photography and with dark wood and it can hold a wall alone. Avoid hanging it beside other figurative portraits, two faces looking out compete directly. A thin black frame keeps the drawing severe, which is right for it. If the wall is to hold another sheet, the rest of the Egon Schiele collection follows the same rules.
