Head of a Woman 1908

Egon Schiele made this head of a woman probably with charcoal and maybe some pastel or chalk. I am really struck by its intimacy and the somewhat sickly palette. It's like the artist is using line and texture to construct not just an image, but a feeling. The face is all planes and angles, and the eyes are looking up at us like they are in pain. There's something so vulnerable and exposed about it. It seems the hand emerging from the side is both caressing and shielding the sitter’s face. It must have been hard to be Schiele, he had such a short life. I'm thinking about other artists who were dealing with similar themes like Munch, and the expressionists. Artists are always in conversation with one another, riffing off each other's ideas and pushing the boundaries of what art can be. And like Schiele, they show us that painting can be a powerful tool for exploring the complexities of the human condition.