# Self-Portrait with Chinese Lantern Plant [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [SCHIELE, Egon]() - Date: 1851-1900 - Technique: Oil and gouache on wood, 32 x 40 cm ## Commentary The 1912 Self-Portrait with Chinese Lantern Plant is one of Egon Schiele's most famous works, which shows the artist at the height of his artistic prowess. A balanced composition with nothing left to chance, each line has found its continuation or a corresponding counterpart: hair and body mirror each other, trimmed at the horizontal edges of the image, with these dark sections balanced by the bright red-coloured lantern fruits. In a further show of balance, Schiele's head is turned to the right, with his gaze fixed directly toward the observer. The image's composition is particularly defined by sharp lines and a virtuoso application of colour. In this way, the artist presents himself as both fragile and confident at the same time. The work was conceived as a counterpart to his portrait of Wally Neuzil made at the same time, which explains the distinctively asymmetric composition. Physalis is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family \(Solanaceae\), which grow in warm temperate and subtropical regions of the world. ## Related artworks - [Agony \(The Death Struggle\)]() - [Cardinal and Nun \(Caress\)]() - [Crescent of Houses II \(Island Town\)]() - [Kümmernis \(Sorrow\)]() - [Krumau - Crescent of Houses \(The Small City V\)]() - [Landscape at Krumau]() - [Lovemaking]() - [Portrait of a Child]() - [Portrait of Otto Wagner]() - [Portrait of Paris von Gütersloh]() - [Portrait of Wally Neuzil]() - [Poster for the 49th Exhibition of the Vienna Secession \(Secession 49. Ausstellung\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()