Klimt/Schiele: Drawings from the Albertina Museum, Vienna


Beautiful exhibition at the Royal Academy of works on paper by Klimt and Schiele from the early 20th century.

There were some stunning drawings in this show which were nicely hung and described. I thought the only shame was that it felt like a competition between the two artists won by Schiele as his works were more visceral. However it was clear that the two artists used drawing in different ways and Klimt’s, on the whole, were preparatory drawings for paintings and frescos whereas more of Schiele’s were finished works in their own right and therefore making a more purposeful statement.

All the works were a lovely study of a particular time and place and gave a real sense of the people and life in Vienna in the years before the First World War. I loved Klimt’s drawings for his well-known portraits which were very freely drawn catching the stance and clothing of the sitters rather than facial likenesses. The series of self-portraits by Schiele not only gave a sense of how he viewed himself but also of an artist using his own body to try out poses and emotional representations. I didn’t find them quite as introspective as I have when seeing them in the past.

I liked the section bringing together some of Klimt’s studies for his Beethoven Frieze and the frescos for the university on philosophy, medicine and jurisprudence. It would have been nice to have a reproduction of the finished works to compare the studies to. The erotic section at the end reflected the fact that Freud’s writing on sexuality had appeared in 1905 however they made me think more of his grandson Lucien in their use of colours to represent flesh.

Favourite works in the show included Schiele’s picture of a Cellist minus the cello which made for an interesting pose and oddly I loved his pictures of Chrysanthemums painted in simple swirls and so delicate. 

Closes on 3 February 2019.

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