The record sale of a drawing by Egon Schiele (Tulln, 1890 - Vienna, 1918) captured the attention of the art market during theevening auction of Modern Art held at the Dorotheum on Nov. 18, 2025. Lot number 3, Crouching Nude, Back view of 1917, was the focus of a heated confrontation between bidders, which ended with a telephone buyer winning the work for 3.23 million euros. The drawing dates from the penultimate year of the artist’s life and represents a particularly intense and mature creative phase. During this period, Schiele gradually moved away from the expression of inner conflict, predominant in earlier works, to focus on the body as a formal phenomenon. This museum-quality work belongs to a phase in which the artist explored the figure with a new gaze, attentive to proportion, posture and the use of mark-making, elements that help define the distinctive character of his final production.
Crouching Nude, Back view also possesses an important historical background. The work has been returned and was once part of the collection of August and Serena Lederer, important collectors who contributed to the spread of modern art. The provenance testifies to the work’s journey through the history of European private collections, adding additional layers of interest for scholars and collectors. The result of the sale is part of a broader context of increasing appreciation of modern drawings, which are often less visible than paintings, but are capable of offering a direct glimpse into the artistic development and design phase. Schiele’s work represents an emblematic example of how the art market continues to reward formal research and collection history, confirming the Dorotheum’s centrality as an international point of reference.
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| Egon Schiele, 3.23 million euros for a drawing at Dorotheum |
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