Portrait of a Woman

Hardly any other artist embodies Viennese Modernism as powerfully as Egon Schiele. His drawings possess an immediate intensity that, even more than a hundred years after they were created, has lost none of its impact. For me, this portrait of a woman from 1918 is one of those works that exemplify why Schiele is regarded today as one of the most significant draughtsmen of the 20th century.
With just a few precisely placed lines, he creates an extraordinary sense of presence. The young woman looks directly at the viewer – self-assured, focused and yet deeply vulnerable. Schiele dispenses almost entirely with any sense of space or narrative embellishment. Everything is focused on the face, the gaze and the posture. It is precisely this reduction that makes the drawing so modern: the line becomes the vehicle for emotion, character and psychological depth.
It is particularly fascinating that this drawing was created during the artist’s final year of life. Schiele’s drawings from this period appear calmer and more focused than the often expressively exaggerated works of his early years. The confident, flowing lines and the balanced composition bear witness to an artistic maturity that, tragically, came to an abrupt end just a few months later with his untimely death.
The provenance also underscores the exceptional quality of the work. It comes directly from the artist’s estate and has been part of significant private collections as well as renowned exhibitions, most recently in 2025 at the Leopold Museum in Vienna in the exhibition *Times of Upheaval: Egon Schiele’s Final Years 1914–1918*. Works such as this are now extremely rare on the market.
For our gallery, this portrait of a woman exemplifies the enduring relevance of Viennese Modernism. Here, Schiele achieves something timeless: using the simplest of means, he creates a portrait of great human intimacy and emotional authenticity – a quality that makes his work unmistakable and internationally sought-after to this day.