Self Portrait with Chinese Lantern Plant

Self-portraits are mostly considered as a self-reflection. But this piece screams awareness, and expression. I would bet on anger as well. The red blip in the eyeball and the condescending look is a proof of him letting go of all the tanked anger. What else is he letting go of? Arrogance. As his head is chopped off. He still dressed up, In a structured coat that is shrinking by his posture. He simply had a bad hair day or this was his attempt to give up his arrogance. The composition of the painting is more like us watching Schiele analysing himself over a mirror.

His bohemian aesthetic is simply reflected by the chinese lantern plant. But it speaks a lot for him. The fragility that his stern expression stuffs, the defiance that is constantly under the threat of being shattered, and expression - having had the content in him to be the master of expressionism but not a long life to do it in, he had to have a whimsical glimpse of something that danced well with his bohemian house and match his tumultuous happening life.

It might also be an attempt to prove that he is more than painting distorted nudes. A minor set of people failed to understand that his nudes were about embracing suffering, rather than obscenity. He was falsely arrested for molesting kids with nude paintings. This self-portrait could be the very reply he gave to the people with conventional thoughts and crooked mindset. It represents autumn. A beautiful climate of celebrating withering and beauty of death. Death of the speculations made on his name.

Being the protégé of Gustav Klimt, and walking out the prestigious Academy of Fine Arts because it was too structured and traditional, Schiele was already laying his road towards Modern Art. Modern Art to Schiele was not sharp lines and stooped subjects. It was making art a possible medium to express all that there is without using the exact template rules. He, as an artist, had a vision, and believed that people would connect with it without a pamphlet.

The colour palette he chose was simple. Red dried mustard yellow and black, and an off white background. Touches of blue and green here and there to represent nerves. Red-Anger and distortion, black - confidence, and yellow - peace. All in one simple look. A self-expression, just to get it out of his system, not to earn an apology. A self-portrait with Chinese Lantern, a perfect expression of a confident, confined man.