Stein on the Danube, Seen from the South 1913

Egon Schiele conjured this boxy townscape with paint on canvas, but when? The date’s uncertain. The buildings in this painting feel like they’ve been roughly hewn from the earth itself, rising up in ochre shades against a backdrop of green-tinged mountains. I wonder if Schiele felt like he was building the town block by block. His buildings are like modernist boxes stacked next to each other. Look at the clock tower and the church spire, they create such an eerie and unsettling atmosphere! The paint isn’t overly thick. It looks like he's letting the image emerge from the surface. The way he's painted this landscape, I can't help but think of other artists who've wrestled with place, like Cezanne or maybe even Guston later on. Painting’s a long conversation, a back-and-forth across time, as we keep trying to catch something real and meaningful. It’s about embracing the unknown, leaving space for new ideas.