Melon 1905

Egon Schiele made this watercolour painting of two melons, on paper, but we don't know when. There's a kind of tonal understatement to this piece, a humble approach to the still life that makes me think of Morandi, or even Courbet. I can imagine him looking intently at the surface of these two large melons, trying to capture the way the light hits them. The brushstrokes are soft and delicate, almost tentative, as if Schiele is feeling his way around the forms. He captures the texture of the melons so well - you can almost feel the rough, uneven skin. The way he's rendered the shadows gives the painting a sense of depth and volume, like you could reach out and touch the melons. It's funny, because Schiele is best known for his intense, often unsettling portraits, but in this painting he seems to be exploring a different side of himself, and that's what's so interesting. It just goes to show you that artists can surprise you, and that there's always more to discover if you keep looking.