Lying Newborn, 1910

During the first months of 1910, Egon Schiele (1890–1918) created at least six depictions of newborn children at the 2nd Gynecological Hospital in Vienna. Three of them form part today of the collection of the Leopold Museum. These are, along with the present one Lying Newborn and Newborn with Bent Knees. Schiele depicted the moment of birth, the moment the body becomes visible as being thrown into the world: The naked bodies of the newborns are abandoned at this threshold without protection. These images were only possible through Schiele’s friendship with the gynaecologist Erwin von Graff (1878–1952), who granted the artist access to the clinical institution and allowed him to acquaint himself with the medical view of the body. Along with depictions of children, Schiele also executed drawings of pregnant women on the examination table around this time, for instance Nude Pregnant Woman, Reclining.

VG, 2021