Boats c. 1905

Curator: Welcome. We're looking at Egon Schiele's "Boats," a watercolor and colored pencil work from around 1905. What strikes you about this scene? Editor: Well, immediately, it’s the stillness. The muted colors and simple composition give it a sense of quiet melancholy, a kind of hazy, dreamlike atmosphere. Curator: The technique certainly contributes to that feeling. Notice how the watercolor washes create a sense of atmospheric perspective, making the boats in the distance fade almost into the sky. And how Schiele uses the coloured pencil for more detailed linework. It’s an interesting interplay. Editor: It does remind me a little of melancholic seascapes from the Romantic era, with their own symbolism of loneliness, impermanence, maybe the human relationship to vast nature. Those boats feel like little fleeting existences on this calm ocean, but it doesn't feel very tragic though. More meditative. Curator: Indeed. The very act of depicting boats suggests trade and transportation, also leisure and recreation. I wonder what boats meant to him and what he wished to imply with his boats subject. And in 1905, just before Schiele moved towards more of expressionist subject, this work is one of his early attempts at Impressionism and Plein Air painting. It is such an amazing choice to render his observation through those mixed media. Editor: Mixed media is interesting. Looking at the vessels, particularly the one pulled onto the shore, the boat takes on the connotations of both the journey and the safe harbour, but, as you note, the means by which the safe harbours are accessible is reliant on production of transportation. Maybe I read too much there. Curator: Perhaps not. Perhaps Schiele understood it already. He also rendered a great landscape piece with this choice of the vessels to feature his impression and idea. Editor: Yes, it gives much more meaning, doesn’t it? Well, it’s interesting to consider this seemingly simple piece in such complex terms. Thanks! Curator: My pleasure. Considering its production values alongside its symbolism certainly provides further depth to its meaning.