Geknickte Leiter 1918

"Geknickte Leiter" (Broken Ladder), a 1918 drawing by Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele, depicts a single, stark black ladder against a pale, almost washed-out background. The ladder's thick, gestural lines and broken form are characteristic of Schiele's style, which often expressed psychological and emotional states. This minimalist work, created in the final year of the artist's life, could be interpreted as a metaphor for fragility and instability, reflecting the turbulent times of World War I and the artist's own mortality.