Portrait of Marie Schiele
1979
Here we see Egon Schiele’s mother, Marie, captured in a moment of quiet dignity. Schiele, the wild child of Austrian Expressionism, is famous for his twisted, angsty figures, but here he uses soft, sweeping charcoal strokes to render her profile with surprising tenderness. Notice the massive, dark cloud of her hair—it almost looks like a heavy helmet, contrasting with the gentle, aging lines of her face and the loose, sketchy shading of her shoulders. It’s a rare, intimate glimpse of the artist's family life, likely drawn early in his career around 1909, showing a softer side to a man known for shocking the Viennese public.
- Technique
- Charcoal and pencil
- Material
- Paper
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