Squatting Couple (The Family)
A man and a woman, both nude, are crouching in a dark room. A child peers out from between the woman’s legs. Positioned protectively behind them both, the man with alert eyes reveals Schiele’s features. His bony body contrasts with the woman’s soft curves, who looks down, lost in thought. Despite their physical proximity, the two bodies appear isolated. Schiele’s own family would never come into existence. His wife Edith died of Spanish flu on October 28, 1918, when she was six months pregnant. Egon Schiele died three days later. Art critic Berta Zuckerkandl thereupon first used the title “The Family” for Squatting Couple.
1918
Oil on canvas
150.0 x 160.8cm
4277
Image © Belvedere, Vienna, 2024
Where you'll find this
Upper Belvedere
Permanent collection
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Egon Schiele, The Family
"Picture this! The Belvedere Collection from Cranach to Lassnig" in international sign
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