The Art Dealer Guido Arnot 1918

Egon Schiele’s painting, The Art Dealer Guido Arnot, is an exploration of interiority in the guise of a portrait, made with thin layers of muted colour and anxious lines. Looking at Guido Arnot perched there, all angles and intellect, I wonder what Schiele was thinking. Maybe, like many artists, he felt a deep sense of ambivalence towards the art market and its players. Schiele paints Arnot like a tottering tower of books and sculptures, literally raised up by art, but somehow also burdened and trapped by it. The books around Arnot seem to function as an armature, something structural holding him in place. But look closely, and you'll see the lines are restless, never settling. It’s as if Schiele can’t decide if Arnot is a pillar of the art world or just another guy trying to make it through the day. The act of painting can reveal more about the painter than the subject, don’t you think? It is as if Schiele projects his own insecurities about art’s value onto the poor guy!