Emil Nolde was occupied with portraits, predominantly with those of women and girls, throughout his entire life. "I have been asked on many occasions if I had no interest in people, as it seems I pay too little attention. 'Very much so', I replied, 'perhaps just different than what is common practice.' The eye captures the impression in a twelfth of a second, and further lingering on the object is private amusement . But even when you look at people just halfway, they still become simpler and larger. […] Laugh, cheer, cry or be happy, you are my pictures and the sound of your voices, the nature of your characters in all diversity, these are my colors.“ The face in our work is particularly neatly modeled: Right cheek and the right side of the forehead are illuminated like by an evening sun, which is why they impressively stick out from the background in changing tones of a dark purple. To Nolde, the artist of colors, the composition of contrasting tones is of crucial importance.He conveys most of the portrayed person‘s character through the sheet‘s color values. Enticing eroticism and a self-asserted aloofness enter a fascinating connection in this work. It is like the essence of Nolde‘s ambivalent image of women: "There are a lot of things I don‘t understand– and I don‘t have to, either.“ (Ex. cat. "Bewundert, gefürchtet und begehrt. Emil Nolde malt die Frauen", released by Manfred Reuther and Jörg Garbrecht, Berlin 2010.)