Reclining Female Semi-Nude from the Left with Raised Leg

• Gustav Klimt (1862–1918)
• 1917
• India ink on Japanese paper
• Leopold Museum, Vienna

In this drawing, Klimt has emphasized the slender, elongated proportions of the model to make her appear sunken into the bed. Instead of clear outlines, nervous-looking, erratic and interrupted strokes were used. The jolting strokes can be explained by the artist’s unfamiliarity with the technique of pen and ink drawing, but they also clearly reveal his tendency in later years to merely hint at shapes and to interpret them in an expressive manner.