The Artist's Mother

Egon Schiele's "The Artist's Mother" (1907) is a drawing in various black crayons on cream wove paper, depicting Marie Schiele, the artist's mother. Schiele (1890–1918) had a complex relationship with his mother after the death of his father from syphilis when Schiele was 14. His portraits of her are among the most emotionally charged works of his early career. This drawing from 1907, when Schiele was just 17, shows his mother in a three-quarter view, her features rendered with a sensitivity that reveals the young artist's already remarkable draftsmanship. The various black crayons create different textures and tones, from the softer lines of the face to the sharper strokes of the clothing. The influence of Gustav Klimt, who had taken the young Schiele under his wing, is visible in the elegant contour lines and the decorative treatment of the dress. This early work shows Schiele before he developed the distorted, expressive style of his mature period, revealing the solid academic foundation upon which his revolutionary later work was built.

Schiele's portraits of his mother document a relationship of profound emotional intensity that shaped his art, the early works showing a tenderness that his later, more provocative works would obscure.

This early portrait of Schiele's mother, drawn when he was just 17, reveals the young artist's extraordinary draftsmanship and the emotional depth he could achieve even before developing his mature Expressionist style.