In 1912 Else Berg and her partner Mommie Schwarz travelled round in Italy, where she painted this young woman. Back in Amsterdam, she showed her brand-new works in artists’ association exhibitions at the Stedelijk Museum. Reviewers called them ‘ultramodern apparitions’. The woman’s long face and almond-shaped eyes are reminiscent of the paintings by the Italian artist Amadeo Modigliani. It is likely that Berg had seen his work during her trip to Italy, or earlier in Paris.