Woman with Blue Stockings 1912

Egon Schiele made this drawing, Woman with Blue Stockings, whose date is unknown, using watercolor and pencil. Observe how Schiele employs a tilted perspective, destabilizing conventional views of portraiture. The woman's form is built from the convergence of sharply delineated lines and planes. The somber black of her topcoat sharply contrasts the vivid colors of the skirt and stocking, which are rendered with a kind of expressive looseness. Schiele was exploring the expressive potential of line and color to convey psychological states. The unsettling composition reflects the artist's broader interest in challenging fixed meanings and exploring subjective experience. Note how the formal elements work together to create tension, reflecting Schiele's broader artistic and philosophical concerns. As you look at the composition, consider that art does not have a singular unchanging meaning, but is a site of ongoing interpretation and reinterpretation.