Zwei Frauenakte, liegend und kniend (Die Freundinnen)

Zwei Frauenakte is an elegant figure study that Schiele made in 1912. It is one of only a few studies of couples that Schiele made in this year - the year that he consolidated both the dramatic development of his style that had taken place in 1911 and also his relationship with his model 'Wally' (Valerie Neuzil). It is likely that the model for the red-haired figure in this watercolour was also Wally as, in addition to sharing the same hair style, this figure also sports the same thick headband that Wally is shown wearing in Schiele's many portraits of her from this time.

Continuing his exploration of the inner being through a study of its outer form in a variety of intimate and/or exaggerated poses, Schiele's drawings and watercolours of 1912 begin also to explore the psychology of his sitters through an intense study of bodily expression. In this work, the body language of the two figures suggests an intimacy that is centred and focussed on the red-haired figure's hands pressing into contact with the dark-haired girl's arm and breast. Although this action is suggestive of an erotic intimacy and the point of bodily contact between the two girls is consciously emphasised by Schiele's intensifying the colour in this area, the apparent tenderness of the action is to a degree belied by the red-haired girl's fingers splaying in the same bizarre and seemingly symbolic manner that Schiele himself often used to pose with.

Using a fine and delicate line that has lost some of the febrile energy of his 1911 works but gained in fluidity and confidence, the languid elegance of Schiele's style is reinforced by that of the work's overall composition. Filling the space of the paper sheet in such a way that the whole work takes on a cohesiveness and completeness beyond that of a mere sketch, Schiele has developed the drawing into a graphic unity. This is augmented and made concrete through Schiele's extraordinarily subtle use of watercolour delineating the muscular and volumetric form of the two women in such a way that the work takes on the deceptive appearance of a relief.