Two Friends 1912

Egon Schiele made this drawing, Two Friends, with pencil and watercolor. Look at the way he’s built these figures with just a few lines. It’s like he’s mapping out their forms, capturing their energy more than their actual bodies. The lines are so decisive, creating these raw, almost vulnerable figures. There’s a tension in the poses, an awkwardness that feels very human. Notice the patches of color, especially that striking blue on one figure’s head. It’s not about realism; it’s about emotion, about making us feel something. Schiele's work reminds me of Paula Modersohn-Becker, another artist who wasn’t afraid to portray the body with brutal honesty. It's like Schiele's saying, "Here we are, in all our messy, imperfect glory." And isn’t that what art is all about?