Houses on the Moldau, Krumau 1910

Egon Schiele made this expressionist painting of houses on the Moldau River with oil on canvas. Look at how Schiele used a mix of thin washes and sharp, broken lines to build up the forms, kind of like how you'd construct a drawing. It’s almost as if he’s feeling his way through the image, one stroke at a time. What really grabs me is the texture. The way he layers the paint, especially in those dark, brooding sections of the buildings, creates a real sense of depth and weight. Then you’ve got these stark, almost violent lines cutting through, describing the edges and angles of the architecture. Check out the purple river at the bottom – it's an electric bolt against the sombre tones of the architecture, that is so raw and full of feeling. You see a similar approach in the work of Oskar Kokoschka, another Austrian Expressionist. Both artists seemed to be trying to find a new way of seeing, one that embraced the messiness and uncertainty of life.