This tortured figure of a man with an erection is a self-portrait painted by Schiele near the end of his short life. After ten years of financially unrewarding effort, Schiele had an exhibition in 1918 that was a complete success. But the artist did not live to enjoy it. He and his wife died in that year.

Notes courtesy of Bradley Smith, from The Erotic Art of the Masters: The 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries, Gemini-Smith Inc., La Jolla, CA.