Self Portrait as St. Sebastian 1914

Egon Schiele made this self-portrait, as St. Sebastian, with pencil and paper. It’s all about the line, right? A nervous, searching line, like he’s feeling his way through the space. You can sense the urgency in it, a need to capture something fleeting. Look at how Schiele uses line to define the contours of his body, almost like he’s mapping his own vulnerability. The lines are thin, but they carry so much weight. The way he renders his hands—so expressive, almost claw-like—it's as though he's reaching out, trying to grasp something just beyond his reach. There’s a real tension between the delicacy of the line and the intensity of the emotion. Schiele's raw, expressive style reminds me of Paula Modersohn-Becker, who also explored the vulnerability of the human form with such honesty. They both understand that art isn't about perfection, it’s about embracing the messiness and contradictions of being alive.