Couple Embracing 1911

Egon Schiele made this drawing of a couple embracing with graphite on paper. Look at how economical Schiele is with his marks. You can see his thinking, the process of his looking, in the pentimenti, the barely erased lines. The bodies are formed by an accumulation of single, thin lines that barely describe the volume of the figures. It feels honest and raw. Especially the hands; they are so strange and angular, like claws. Schiele’s line is so brittle. The color of the paper is like skin, and the thin lines are like veins showing through. This work reminds me of drawings by Gustav Klimt, especially in the use of line to capture the emotional intensity of the figures, but Schiele’s feels more exposed, less adorned. It’s a testament to the power of drawing, of just a few lines, to convey so much feeling.