Houses With Laundry 1914

Egon Schiele made "Houses With Laundry" with oil on canvas, though when he made it exactly, we don't know. There is something quite slap-dash about the way Schiele has worked here. He's got this palette of drab browns, reds and greens, but then he punches it up with these vibrant pops of colour in the laundry lines. Look at the way the paint is applied. It’s thin in places, almost transparent, allowing the texture of the canvas to show through. Then in other areas, like around the buildings, it's built up, thick and almost crusty. This adds depth and physicality to the work. Look at that heavy grey line along the top. It’s almost sculptural. It’s like he’s dragging the sky down onto the scene. Schiele’s got this really raw, expressionistic quality. It makes me think of other Austrian painters like Oskar Kokoschka. It's a reminder that art doesn't always need to be polished and perfect; it can be messy, raw, and full of emotion. It’s like a conversation between artists across time, each adding their own voice to the mix.