Else Berg’s paintings brought her considerable success. That didn’t come easily at a time when society offered limited scope for women to advance. She was in her fifties when she painted this self-portrait, holding her brushes and palette. Her piercing gaze recalls the work of Charley Toorop – Berg knew Toorop and her oeuvre well. The life and career of Else Berg, a Jew, was brought to an abrupt end: she was murdered by the Nazis in Auschwitz.