Reclining Woman (Liegender Halbakt nach rechts)

Reclining Woman (Liegender Halbakt nach rechts) is a drawing created by Gustav Klimt in 1912. This intimate study, executed in colored pencil on paper, reveals the artist's foundational skill in draftsmanship, which often underlies the intricate surfaces of his monumental paintings. As a leading figure in the Austrian Secession movement and a master of Vienna fin-de-siècle art, Klimt often utilized drawings to explore the human form, particularly the female figure, before translating these ideas into other mediums. The period of 1912-13 marks the final productive years of the artist's life, showing a continuing fascination with expressive line and sensual pose.

The subject is presented in a relaxed, yet deliberate posture, the figure leaning towards the right side of the frame. Unlike the gilded intensity often associated with Klimt’s mature oil paintings, this drawing emphasizes the organic contour and volume of the body. Klimt uses the colored pencil medium sparingly, focusing his attention on rapidly defining the essential shapes and volumes. The artist allows the texture of the paper to play a key role in defining the light and shadow across the figure’s skin, lending the piece an immediacy characteristic of life studies. This focus on the raw energy of the line places the work squarely within the progressive currents influencing late Austrian modernism.

Many of Klimt's numerous preparatory sketches from this era served as essential tools for understanding the movement and emotion he wished to capture, reflecting his meticulous process even for seemingly quick studies. This piece of graphic art is held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, confirming its status as a significant document of early twentieth-century art. While some of the master's earlier works are now freely available through public domain initiatives, studies from the 1912-13 period remain central to understanding the evolution of the artist’s aesthetic vision during the final phase of his career. High-quality prints of such preparatory drawings are widely sought by collectors and researchers interested in the detailed draftsmanship of the Viennese master.