Standing Woman in a Patterned Blouse

Between 1910 and 1914, Egon Schiele lived with Valerie "Wally" Neuziel, the model for many of his drawings including, most probably, this one. Sinuous line defines her body, and repeated patches of red-orange in her hair, poppy-patterned blouse and stockings energize and eroticize the composition.

Schiele was a brilliant talent who studied at the Vienna Academy and exhibited with the Vienna Secessionists. This innovative group of artists rejected academic traditions in their search for a modern style. In 1918, shortly after the Secessionist exhibition, Schiele and his pregnant wife died in the global influenza epidemic.