Focus on this artwork and analyze the Background.
The sitter described his genesis in her article, "Erinnerungen an Otto Dix" ("Memories of Otto Dix"), in 1959. The painter met her on the street by chance and was impressed with her looks. He stated:'I must paint you! I simply must!... You are representative of an entire epoch!''So, you want to paint my lacklustre eyes, my ornate ears, my long nose, my thin lips; you want to paint my long hands, my short legs, my big feet—things which can only scare people off and delight no-one?''You have brilliantly characterized yourself, and all that will lead to a portrait representative of an epoch concerned not with the outward beauty of a woman but rather with her psychological condition.'
Von Harden agreed to pose for the painter, and sat for several sessions in the following weeks.
Otto Dix