Sitzender Bub mit gefalteten Händen 1910

Egon Schiele made this watercolor of a seated boy with folded hands, and I think he must have been searching for a way to paint what's inside, not just what's visible. Look at the way the washes of color create depth, especially in the boy's dark jacket, how the pigment pools and flows, almost like the shadows are swallowing him up. Schiele doesn't try to smooth things over, instead, he revels in the textures and the bleeding edges, and the angular outline of the boy’s form. His hands, a tangle of pinks and reds, seem almost raw, vulnerable. This rawness links Schiele to other expressionist painters like Munch, who weren't afraid to lay bare the intensity of human experience, leaving us with more questions than answers. That’s what keeps me coming back to art: not for the certainties, but for the possibilities.