Seated woman, rear view, Egon Schiele - 1917 from the old master collection

The psychological intensity of Schiele's self-portraits is rarely found in his numerous studies of young women - many nude or provocatively dressed - who are treated remotely as objects for formal analysis. Often isolated on a page, without any reference to their surroundings, these figures are exquisite studies in line, composition and gesture. This portrait of a seated woman seen from behind is expressive even though her face is hidden. The model was probably Schiele's wife Edith Harms, then twenty-four, whom he married in 1915 and who died of flu just three days before. Only partially dressed, but with her strawberry-blonde hair carefully cropped, the figure wears a bright blue striped jacket over a white striped shirt - the attire of a respectable lady. Her lower body, however, is dressed in the garments in which Schiele usually depicted prostitutes - white lace briefs and dark stockings. The clear difference between the two parts of her costume seems to reflect the artist's ambivalent feelings about his wife, who is alternately shown in his art as a cold virgin or a passionate lover. Egon Schiele (Tulln, 12 June 1890 - Vienna, 31 October 1918) was an Austrian Expressionist painter. Although Schiele was strongly influenced by the work of Gustav Klimt, the lines he uses are nevertheless completely different in nature. To