Egon Schiele:
Self-Portrait (1910) – (Selbstbildbnis)
watercolour and charcoal on paper
45.2 x 30.5 cm (17 7/8 x 12 in.)
Auctioned at Christie’s in 2010 for GBP 1,385,250
(Kallir d684)

1910 was the first major breakthrough year for Egon Schiele—marking his rise as an independent artist and the fast shift in his style from Klimt-inspired Jugendstil to his own bold and expressive form of Expressionism. This change happened during a time when many artists across Europe were moving away from decorative styles and exploring deeper emotions and raw human experiences.

“I went by way of Klimt until March,” Schiele wrote to his guardian, Dr. Josef Czermak. “Today I believe I am his very opposite.”

The works that best show this dramatic change are the many self-portraits he created throughout the year. One of the most striking is Self-Portrait with Raised Bare Shoulder, where Schiele wears a smock outlined in a Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) style, making it look almost abstract. He uses only a graphite outline, leaving the rest of the page blank. This approach breaks from traditional portrait painting, which usually fills the canvas with color and detail.

In contrast to the empty background, Schiele’s face and body are shown in rich, unnatural colors—mixing sharp realism with stylized shapes. He was inspired by Japanese woodblock prints, which often use empty space to highlight the subject. Schiele realized that this contrast gave his work a stronger emotional impact and made the figure feel more intense and psychologically complex.