Portraits and self-portraits occupy a central position in the oeuvre of Egon Schiele (1890-1918). Confrontational and often explicitly erotic, they repeatedly provoked protests by testing the boundaries of traditional portraiture. Largely devoid of props or scenery, they reflect the artist's intensive study of the portrayal of emotional States. Schiele's examination of the self began with his own perron : his self-portraits are fascinating glimpses inside the mind of an extraordinarily gifted artist as well as seminal works of originality and deep empathy with the human condition.
