The Pornographic World of Egon Schiele’s Nudes (18+)

Egon Schiele’s nudes can challenge us and our preconceptions of the artistic tradition of the “nude”. He didn’t paint or draw idealized goddesses. He preferred to present female and male genitalia in full light. Many of the female nudes remind one of pornographic images and include props, such as stockings, typically associated with prostitution. Schiele often asked sex workers to model for him but he also portrayed other women that were close to him. You can’t escape the palpable eroticism of his work which is often truly explicit.

Schiele lead a bohemian life in the early 20th century Viennese café culture inhabited by radical intellectuals who asked questions about sex, desire, death, and the true nature of humanity. Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams was also published in 1899. Against this background, Schiele looks to reveal the hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie and the reality of the human condition. The artist produced some of the most radical depictions of the human figure created in modern times – so radical that in 1912 he was imprisoned for two months for exhibiting his “offensive” nudes.

Below you will find a gallery of some of the hundreds of nudes he created in his short life.

1. Standing Nude in Red Jacket

Standing Nude in Red Jacket (1913) by Egon Schiele (Private Collection

2. Black-Haired Nude Girl Standing

Black-Haired-Nude-Girl-Standing-Egon-Schiele-1910, Courtauld Gallery

3. Reclining Female Nude with Legs Spread Apart

Reclining_Female_Nude_with_Legs_Spread_Apart_1914_Kallir_D._1484_Albertina

4. Seated Female Nude with Black Stockings

nudes, Egon Schiele, Seated Female Nude with Black Stockings, 1910, private collection

5. Blonde Nude Model Sitting on Brownish-Blue Cloth

nudes Egon Schiele, Blonde Nude Model Sitting on Brownish-Blue Cloth, 1912, Albertina, Vienna. 

6. Two Girls Lying Entwined

Two_Girls_Lying_Entwined_1915_Kallir_D._1743_Albertina

7. Kneeling Semi-Nude

Kneeling Semi-Nude, 1917 Private Collection

8. Sitting Female Nude with Yellow Blanket

nudes Egon Schiele, Sitting Female Nude with Yellow Blanket, 1910, private collection

9. Girl with the Green Stockings

640px-Egon_Schiele_-_Mädchen_mit_grünen_Strümpfen_-_1914, private collection

10. Crouching Female Nude with Bending Head

Schiele_-_Kauerndes_Mädchen_mit_gesenktem_Kopf_-_1918

11. Red-Head Girl in Black Dress with Spreaded Legs

nudes Egon Schiele, Red-Head Girl in Black Dress with Spreaded Legs, 1910, Leopold Museum

12. Crouching Woman with Green Kerchief

4-Crouching_Woman_with_green_kerchief

13. Two Girls Embracing (Two Friends)

Egon Schiele, Two Girls Embracing (Two Friends), 1915, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

14. Lying Woman

Egon Schiele, Lying Women, 1917, Leopold Museum

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