Venus von Willendorf 1918

Egon Schiele made this drawing called ‘Venus von Willendorf,’ and look at the way he's used the black line to define a figure. It’s so confident, but also kind of wobbly, you know? It feels like he’s thinking through the form as he’s drawing it. I love how the yellow background really makes the figure pop, but it's not a clean, perfect yellow. It’s got these variations, almost like it's aged or stained, giving the whole thing a kind of raw, earthy vibe. And then you have that single dark line trailing down from the bottom of the figure, right? It’s so simple, but it changes everything, adding a bit of mystery. Schiele's work always reminds me of Gustav Klimt, but with less gold leaf and more angst. Both were exploring the human form, but while Klimt was all about beauty and decoration, Schiele was digging into the darker, messier stuff. It’s like he’s saying, ‘Here, look at this. It’s not perfect, but it’s real.'