Boating 1907

Egon Schiele made this painting, called 'Boating', with oil paint and probably some brushes and maybe a rag. The painting feels immediate, as if Schiele was trying to capture a fleeting moment in time. The brushstrokes are loose and broken, and the colors are muted and desaturated, which creates a sense of atmosphere and light. When I look at the boat in the foreground, I see how the dark mass gives weight to the reflection on the water below, with its suggestive strokes of orange and green. Schiele was a master of line, so I wonder why he adopted such an impressionistic style here. I see his signature down there in the lower left. Like many artists, Schiele was constantly experimenting with different styles and techniques. Artists like him are in an ongoing conversation with one another across time, each inspiring and challenging the other’s creativity. Painting is a form of embodied expression which embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations.