Seated Woman in a Green Blouse, 1908

In the spring of 1908, Richard Gerstl (1883–1908) dedicated himself to portrait painting. The artist depicts the lady in a hat in three-quarter profile, which he preferred for his portraits. She is gazing out of the picture coquettishly. While Gerstl reproduces her features realistically, he dissolves the shapes of her hands. By contrast, he renders the green blouse and the striped skirt in clearly visible brushstrokes. Colorful loops and pronounced, thick layers of paint reveal a relief-like structure of paint. The life-sized painting actually shows two figures: the unidentified female model on the green couch and a male figure on a narrow picture format in the background. The picture in the background is the portrait of Prof. Ernst Diez (1878–1961), which Gerstl had created in the autumn of 1906 and which was still in the possession of the painter. This makes it clear that the lady was painted in the studio that Richard Gerstl shared with Arnold Schönberg (1874–1951) at Liechtensteinstraße 68/70 in Vienna’s 9th District.

AK, 2022