Zwei ineinander verschlungene Figuren

Zwei ineinander verschlungene Figuren (Two Figures Interlocked) is a sensual and powerful drawing that reflects the mastery of both subject and medium that Schiele attained by this time of his career and the new direction he was now taking with his art. Devoid of personal reference or sense of portraiture, the present work is an evocation of passion and tenderness. The drawing focuses on the embracing figures, their limbs interlocked to form a unified being, so that the individual body parts become indiscernible. Schiele intentionally obscures the faces of the models to fully emphasize the intensity of the embrace: two figures clinging to each other to represent longing, fear of isolation and a need for harmony—concerns that were certainly prevalent in 1917 Post-War Europe.
Jane Kallir observes, “by sacrificing personality in these drawings, the artist gained a monumentality of form…In Schiele’s late oeuvre, the nude is in essence a symbol, not a person.” In this return to symbolism and departure from stark portraiture, Schiele was “no longer concerned with self-exploration, but rather with transforming his own experiences into an emblematic statement about the human existence” (op. cit., p. 226).
The present work is related to Schiele’s late masterpiece, Umarmung (Liebesakt). This painting is considered one of the most unabashedly passionate and tender works of his career, straightforwardly depicting the desire for love and intimacy between two lovers—in essence the fundamental desire of human existence.