If you look at Schiele’s hands in the portrait, it looks as though Schiele has deliberately elongated the fingers and made them thinner and more withered. This again, makes you think that Schiele has deliberately made himself look older and more animated. The clothes that Schele is wearing in the portrait look to be too big and baggy for him, and therefore seem also to portray his feelings at the time, maybe he was feeling like “a young man in old man’s body”, or “a small boy in a big man’s clothes”.
I have found out that at the time of this painting, Egon Schiele like to give an expression of extreme poverty. But his claims that at this time he was virtually in rags are at odds not only with what his contemporaries have to say, but with the photographs taken of him. His letters make it plain that he suffered from a degree of persecution mania (a feeling that others have evil designs against one’s well-being) - for example, he wrote in a letter of 1910: 'How hideous it is here! Everyone envies me and conspires against me. Former colleagues regard me with malevolent eyes.' This information could back up the idea that Schiele was making himself look older in the paintings and look animated because he actually felt old, and the fact that the left eye is squinting as if looking around and being paranoid could also be due to his persecution mania at the time.
The portrait is basically just an artist’s self-portrait. Around this time, Egon Schiele became fascinated by his own appearance, and made self-portraits in large numbers. This is one of those portraits. The title does not give away any clues to the meaning or symbolism of the piece, it is just called “Self-Portrait Pulling Cheek”.
One of Schiele’s idols was Gustav Klimt, who had previously studied at the same school, the School of Arts and Crafts in Vienna. We cannot really compare any similarities between the two artists styles, but we can maybe say that Schiele was influenced by the facial detail used by Klimt. But Schiele created his own personal expressionist portrait and landscape style.
The colours that Schiele uses for this portrait are rather natural tones, but are also quite expressive and emotive. HE may have used these colours to help express the way he was feeling. The darker red tones for the jumper could be expressing his dark, angry feelings. The shapes used in the portrait are mainly straight. There are very straight lines used for the edge of the face and ears, and for the bony fingers, and also for the edge of the clothing and where the clothes fold. These straight lines give the impression, again, of an animated figure, or of a stern man.
For this portrait, Schiele used a material called gouache; it is a heavy, opaque, watercolour paint that produces a less wet-appearing and more strongly coloured picture than ordinary watercolour. He also used watercolour for a lighter paint, and charcoal probably for the darker, shaded area of the clothes etc.
In 1907, Schiele met his idol Gustav Klimt. Schiele showed him some of his drawings and Klimt liked them a lot. Klimt took an interest in Schiele and his work, and often bought some of his drawings and offering to exchange them for some of his own. This must have made Schiele feel good, to have one of his idols take an interest in his work.
In 1909, Schiele left the Academy of Fine Arts after completing his third year. He found a flat and a studio and set up on his own. During this time, Schiele showed a strong interest in pubescent young children, especially young girls, who were often the subject of his drawings. He made many drawings from these willing models, some of which were extremely erotic. Schiele seems to have made part of his income by supplying collectors of pornography. Nowadays, this would be seen as illegal, and would almost definitely be frowned upon by most of the public.
