Sorrow

Art Historical Context

Egon Schiele's *Sorrow* (1914), a poignant drypoint print, captures the raw emotional intensity for which the Austrian Expressionist is renowned. Created on the eve of World War I, work exemplifies Schiele's signature style: elongated, contorted human figures that convey profound psychological turmoil. The central figure, likely a woman hunched in despair, embodies the tags of "Sadness" and "Human Figures," with Schiele's jagged, expressive lines evoking isolation and anguish amid Europe's gathering storm. Drypoint, a direct intaglio technique where the artist scratches into the metal plate with a needle, produces the rich, velvety burrs and textured lines that give Schiele's prints their visceral immediacy. Unlike smoother etching processes, drypoint's spontaneity mirrors the artist's impulsive, autobiographical approach, influenced by his mentor Gustav Klimt and the Vienna Secession. Measuring 18 7/8 × 12 5/8 inches on the plate, *Sorrow* stands out for its scale and intimacy, now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department through the bequest of Scofield Thayer. This piece reflects Schiele's brief but explosive career, cut short by his death in 1918, and underscores Expressionism's focus on inner emotion over outward reality. Visitors will appreciate how *Sorrow* distills universal grief into a haunting visual cry.

About the Artist

Egon Schiele · 1890–1918

Egon Schiele (1890-1918) stands as one of the most provocative and psychologically penetrating artists of early twentieth-century European modernism. Born in Tulln an der Donau, Austria-Hungary, Schiele's brief but intensely productive life ended tragically at age twenty-eight when he and his pregnant wife Edith succumbed to the Spanish flu pandemic, mere days apart. Despite his truncated career, ...