Egon and Me

With my Venture Grant I traveled to Vienna, Austria for two weeks to explore the artwork of early expressionist painter Egon Schiele. I toured museums with Schiele's original works, Schiele's art studios, and the region where he spent the majority of his life. I focused on the value of viewing art in person and honed my observation skills. Additionally, I took inspiration from Schiele's figurative oil works and practiced my skills rendering the human body through creating a series of drawings and paintings.    

Schiele was an early expressionist, an art movement which focused on the subjective perspective. His figures often have emotive facial expressions and pronounced posture. He further expressed emotion through texture as seen above. However, photographs are not able to capture the texture in its true beauty. 

Schiele was known for dramatic self-portraiture, such as the oil painting above. In this particular painting Schiele conveyed feelings of isolation though the figure not touching any edge of the canvas. The body was rendered with angular, unapproachable lines and the missing hands and feet express a lack of mobility.

After this project, I took an art history class dedicated to turn of the 19th century art in London, Paris, and Vienna. I was able to unpack the fascinating works I saw while abroad. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have seen these masterpieces in person. Observing the color, texture, size, and more has undoubtedly informed my current oil paintings. I cannot wait to see how this trip influences my thesis art show.