Woman with Long Hair 1911

Egon Schiele painted this intimate portrait of a woman with long hair, likely in the early 20th century, using watercolor, and you can see how the fluidity of the medium really dictates the mood. Look at how the washes of pinks and oranges blend almost seamlessly, creating soft, undefined forms, but the color is also pretty raw. Schiele lays down the paint with such ease, yet the effect is incredibly powerful. The watery quality of the paint allows the light to penetrate, giving a sense of transparency, like the figure is almost emerging from the paper itself. The way the colors bleed into one another, especially in the hair and the folds of her clothing, creates a sense of movement and vitality. There’s a vulnerability to this piece, a raw honesty that reminds me of some of Marlene Dumas' work. Both artists share a willingness to embrace imperfection, to allow the paint to do its thing, and to capture the fleeting, often unsettling, nature of human emotion. It’s a beautiful reminder that art doesn’t always need to be polished or precise to be profound.