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All auctions / Arts & Graphics / Egon Schiele - "The Hug, 1917".


Egon Schiele: “The Hug, 1917” Authorized offset litho, produced on premium pearl-matte satin. Condition: the work is in excellent condition. Egon Schiele (1890-1918) was one of the most radical figures of Austrian expressionism. A protégé of Gustav Klimt, he developed a highly personal visual language characterized by angular lines, distorted anatomy, raw eroticism, and unwavering psychological intensity. His work broke decisively with the academic ideals of beauty and instead focused on vulnerability, sexuality, and existential tension. Despite his short life, cut short by the Spanish flu at only 28, Schiele produced an extraordinary quantity of drawings, watercolors, and paintings that have profoundly shaped modern figurative art. In the art market, works by Schiele are among the most sought-after from the early 20th century. Large oil paintings regularly fetch tens of millions of euros at auction, while works on paper, especially signed, well-preserved drawings and watercolors, are also highly valued and frequently reach seven-figure prices. Their rarity, historical importance, and unmistakable style form the basis for a consistently strong and resilient market demand. The Hug, painted in 1917, is one of Schiele's most powerful late works and a mature synthesis of his themes. The composition shows two entwined figures locked in an intimate, almost desperate embrace. Their bodies are depicted with taut muscles, angular limbs, and expressive distortion, emphasizing emotional urgency over sensuous harmony. The figures lie on a crumpled white sheet that serves as both a compositional anchor and a psychological space, detached from any narrative context. The background is roughly painted, with visible brushstrokes that reinforce the sense of immediacy. The Hug balances tenderness and fear, love and dependency, and reflects Schiele's focus in his late period on human connectedness as both salvation and vulnerability. Compared with his earlier, harder erotic works, The Hug shows greater emotional depth and painterly richness, while the unmistakable intensity remains. Never framed and kept in a dark archival storage, between protective acid-free paper. The images shown are part of the description. If, for multiple orders, shipping costs are not automatically combined, you will always receive a refund of the multiple shipping costs paid so that you pay shipping only once. This artwork is carefully and securely packaged and sent in protective acid-free paper. No shipping to the Canary Islands. Some artists of comparable importance, such as Basquiat, Picasso, Hockney, Lichtenstein, Sorolla, Banksy, Brainwash, Miró, Nara, Soulages, Lagasse, Ramos, Rothko, Toulouse-Lautrec, Matisse, Modigliani, Hirst, Chagall, Koons, Haring, Indiana, Mondrian, Groening, Richter, Monroe, Kusama, Murakami, Testa, Villemot, Oldenburg, Ripolles, Wesselmann, Magritte, Jenk, Orlinski, Wille, Rizzi, Manara, Thiebaud, Herrera, Laurent, Klein, Coa, Dior, Vuitton, Kaws, Valentino, Cappello, Kandinsky, Warhol, Buffa, Tura, Castle, Ponti, Knoll, Le Corbusier, Robert, Johns, Starck, Breuer, Nelson, Mogensen, Ponti, Bertoia, Urquiola, Chillida, Magistretti, Gauguin, visual arts, vintage design, Rolex, Patek Philippe, Cartier, Lego, Pokémon, Star Wars, Monet, Cézanne, van Gogh, Botero, Katz, Braque, among others.
Estimate:$167.94
To the auctionView all items fromCatawikiorArts & Graphics
Estimate:
$167.94
Aldo van den Nieuwelaar Wand- / Tischleuchte 'Ming', 1968 (Entwurf)
10/13/2026

$1,231.56
Est: $1,364.93

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