Egon Schiele - The Family

 

      Note at the Museum:

      "A man and a woman, both naked, crouch in the darkness of a room. A child peeks out from between the woman's legs. The man, with an alert expression, bears Schiele's facial features and crouches protectively behind the two. His bony body contrasts with the soft curves of the woman, who gazes slightly downward, lost in thought. Despite their close physical proximity, the two bodies appear isolated.

      Schiele's own family would never exist. His wife Edith died in the sixth month of pregnancy on October 28, 1918, from the Spanish flu, and the artist followed just three days later. The art critic Berta Zuckerkandl subsequently used the title "The Family" for "Crouching Human Couple" for the first time."