Nude in Black Stockings

Nude in Black Stockings is a definitive late work by Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele, completed in 1917. Executed using a precise and complex combination of opaque watercolor, traditional watercolor washes, and charcoal on paper, this drawing exemplifies Schiele’s masterful command over line and texture. Schiele often utilized these mixed media techniques, applying charcoal for foundational structure and sharp definition, while the subtle watercolors provide soft yet unsettling color fields for the skin tones and background. The technique achieves a raw, immediate quality, typical of the artist's focus on the subjective experience of the model.

The piece features an elongated, seated female nude characterized by the artist’s signature angularity and psychological intensity. This study avoids traditional idealized representations common in earlier eras, instead offering an unvarnished and psychologically charged depiction typical of Viennese Expressionism. The deliberate inclusion of black stockings adds a jarring visual counterpoint to the vulnerability of the exposed torso, emphasizing the complexity and often confrontational nature of Schiele’s approach to the female form.

Produced just one year before the artist’s premature death, this powerful work showcases the refined yet disturbing graphic quality Schiele brought to his figural studies. This expressive drawing belongs to the extensive holdings of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Today, as Schiele’s impactful oeuvre has entered the public domain, high-quality prints and reproductions derived from institutional collections allow wider access to his distinctively emotional and psychologically revealing style.