Madchenkopf, Egon Schiele ,1918 (source)
Four Trees, Egon Schiele, 1917 (source)
Autumn Trees, Egon Schiele, c. 1918 (source)Despite his sketchy moral history, Egon Schiele is one of my favorite artists (his history is worth checking out if you think our morals are loose in this day and age, it's kind of reassuring). His works have 'soul', as one of my profs would say, Soul in art is hard to define- but you know it when you see it. His images have a tortured quality- which oddly I don't find depressing or overly maudlin- but only real, with a jagged sense of reality- they remind me of how the world feels when something truly amazing happens.
It's like the way the world feels after your child is born-it's messy and painful and complicated, but all in such a good way- that even the messy and painful bits are joyous (Is there a German word for that feeling?). Maybe it's a vulnerability that's present in his works that makes me love them- because really is there any feeling more human than vulnerability?
thanks for the links, I have a large 1st edition book of Egon Schiele prints my father left me but have never been able to find out much about him, was good to be able to read something
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