Egon Schiele:
Portrait of a Woman (Valerie Neuzil), 1912 (Bildnis einer Frau (Valerie Neuzil)
Gouache and pencil on paper
24.8 × 24.8 cm
Present whereabouts unknown; last recorded in 1967
(Kallir, d1196)

Valerie “Wally” Neuzil (1894–1917) was Schiele’s closest companion during the years when his art was finding its most distinctive voice. In this rare square-format portrait, her presence is distilled into a concentrated image. The taut pencil lines carve out her angular features, while the soft gouache lends a fragile glow, holding her between intimacy and distance.

The square sheet is unusual in Schiele’s work and gives the drawing a compressed intensity, pulling the viewer into Wally’s gaze. It belongs to his 1912 period, when he was experimenting with format and stripping portraiture down to essentials: line as nerve, wash as breath, presence as truth. Wally is not idealized here but rendered with honesty, her individuality preserved in the tension between precision and vulnerability.

Her role in Schiele’s life was profound. She accompanied him through the turbulence of his early career, posed for some of his most iconic works, and became a figure through whom he explored the psychological depth of portraiture. This drawing, last recorded in 1967 and now untraced, occupies the poignant category of works that survive only through catalog references and memory. Even unseen, it continues to resonate — a fragile square of paper where Wally’s presence endures, a testament to Schiele’s relentless search.