The bodily distortions, explicit eroticism and anguish which made Egon Schiele’s artworks unpopular during his lifetime are the same features which make them so mesmerizing today. Schiele (1890 – 1918) was an exceptionally prolific Austrian Expressionist who was a protégé of Gustav Klimt, and whose formidable talents were fully matured when he was a teenager. He created emotionally charged self-portraits and allegories, but was best-known for his nude or semi-nude drawings of women, portraying them in awkwardly contracted poses to convey distress. Arrested for immorality and seduction, he created numerous watercolors and drawings during his two-week imprisonment. Dying prematurely from the Spanish flu, Schiele left a legacy of almost 3,500 compelling artworks.

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