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Self-Portrait with Physalis
Egon Schiele · Early Modern (Fauvism, Cubism, Expressionism)
- Artist
- Egon Schiele (1890–1918)
- Date
- 1912
- Dimensions
- 32.2 x 39.8 cm
- Medium
- Oil and gouache on panel
- Location
- Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria
In this self-portrait, the young Austrian painter shows his head and shoulders turned sharply, his face pale and angular, his dark hair standing up, gazing sideways at the viewer with an intense, slightly defiant look. Beside him, a branch of physalis, or Chinese lantern plant, bears small red fruits.
A closer look
Schiele places his head off-centre against a bare white background, leaving a large empty space that gives the picture an unsettling tension. His face is painted with nervous strokes and touches of red, green and blue, and his black jacket forms a solid dark shape. The red physalis berries echo the colours in his face and lips. The painting was conceived as a pair with his portrait of his companion Wally Neuzil, also in the Leopold Museum and also in this gallery, and the two are always displayed together.
More by Egon Schiele
In this gallery
Famous works elsewhere
- Seated Woman with Bent Knees 1917
- Death and the Maiden 1915
- Dead City III 1911
- The Family 1918
- The embrace 1917
- The Hermits 1912