The Brother 1911

Egon Schiele painted 'The Brother' with oil on canvas, but we can only imagine when. There's a vulnerability to this painting, isn't there? Look at how the figures emerge from the golden ground, their forms almost collapsing into each other. The brother's face is turned away, a delicate profile painted in pale tones. And the woman, perhaps a sister, confronts us with those wide, haunted eyes. I wonder what Schiele was thinking about when he made this? Was it about the fragility of family bonds? Or the way we carry each other's burdens? The paint itself is so thin, so watery, it feels like the figures could dissolve at any moment. That feeling is very Schiele! He often explored the darker, more uncomfortable sides of human existence. It's like he's reminding us that life, like a painting, is always in process, always shifting, and always open to interpretation.