Seated Female Nude, Supporting Herself with Her Right Hand, 1914/15

This work is among those depictions of female nudes by Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) that cannot be associated with any specific painting. Many of these studies were likely created from situations spontaneously arising from the communication between artist and model. This is also the impression conveyed by the present painting which sees the model propping herself up into an upright position and looking intently at the artist with a smiling expression. In this study, Klimt captured the spatial context of the nude depiction with unusual precision, especially by rendering the bed on which the woman is sitting. This was likely the low, broad divan which we know from photographs of Klimt’s studio on Feldmühlgasse in Vienna’s Hietzing district. The fleeting strokes with which this drawing was executed underscore its situational, momentary character.

FS