Self Portrait with Hand to Cheek 1910

Egon Schiele painted this self-portrait with oil on canvas, and the way he lays down the paint feels so immediate, like he’s trying to capture a fleeting moment. The colour palette is intense: reds, purples and oranges that feel both raw and kind of vulnerable. Looking at the face, you can almost feel the texture of the paint, each stroke distinct, like he’s building up the form layer by layer. There's this one wild, almost panicked eye, staring out at you, while his hand is raised to his cheek, like he's caught in a moment of introspection. It’s raw, and you can feel the weight of his gaze. Schiele's mark-making reminds me a little of Soutine, who was working around the same time. Both were able to express a lot of feeling with very little detail. It's a reminder that art doesn't need to be perfect to be powerful; it just needs to be real.