Lovers (Self-portrait with Wally)

Lovers (Self-portrait with Wally), though assigned a date of around 1904 in the database, most likely dates to around 1914–1915 based on stylistic evidence — the year Schiele's relationship with Walburga 'Wally' Neuzil was ending. Wally had been Schiele's model and companion since around 1911, reportedly introduced to him by Klimt from his circle of studio models. Their relationship ended in 1914 when Schiele chose to marry Edith Harms — from a middle-class family he considered more socially suitable. The double portrait as lovers is suffused with Schiele's characteristic psychological intensity: two figures whose proximity is physical but whose connection is psychologically ambiguous or strained. Wally continued to pose for Schiele until their separation, and her face — distinctive with its broad cheekbones and direct gaze — appears in numerous works. The Lovers format also engages the tradition of Klimt's great embrace paintings, which Schiele knew intimately, but Schiele refuses Klimt's golden, merging ecstasy in favour of something more angular and unresolved.

Oil on canvas with the characteristic flat spatial field and angular figure drawing of Schiele's mature work. The two-figure composition is tightly compressed, the bodies occupying almost the entire canvas field with minimal background space.