Water Sprites 1908

Egon Schiele made ‘Water Sprites’, likely during the early 1900s, with oil on canvas. The painting seems to shimmer with earthy yellows, greens, and browns—as though he may have started with a dark canvas and then layered on colors. I wonder if Schiele was thinking about his mentor Gustav Klimt when he made this one? The composition is unusual, featuring a frieze of figures against a black, green, and white background; reminiscent of Klimt’s decorative style. It’s interesting to see the body as landscape. The reclining figures feel like they are part of the landscape itself, emerging from it. Note how Schiele rendered the faces in profile using very thin lines. He repeated this throughout his career, giving his subjects a gaunt, almost ghostly appearance. It’s as though they are not quite there, but fading into the background. Schiele was in dialogue with artists from the past, and it’s great to see how he drew from them to create his own vision.