I Love Antitheses 1912

Egon Schiele made “I Love Antitheses” using watercolor and pencil. It’s all in the name, right? In it, the warm shades of orange are set against a cool gray; the clean outlines of the figure contrast with the ambiguous wisps of pencil around it. I can imagine Schiele, bent over his paper, coaxing the paint into these shapes and letting the colors bleed out, while he tries to capture something of his inner self. The thin washes of paint barely cover the paper, allowing the surface to breathe and, like an X-ray, it reveals the underlayers of its making. Look at those two dark buttons – what’s behind them? This reminds me of other figurative painters like Marlene Dumas and Alice Neel, who weren't afraid to delve into the psychological depths of their subjects, laying bare their vulnerabilities and complexities. It’s like they’re all in conversation with each other, riffing on the themes of love, loss, and the search for meaning in a world that often feels chaotic and uncertain.