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Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876-1907) gained no public recognition as an artist during her short lifetime and died from complications after childbirth in 1907. The artist’s works were finally being recognised in Germany for their astonishing originality by 1919. This painting was acquired for the collection of the Hamburg Kunsthalle in that year. But in 1937 it was confiscated, along with many other works by the artist as part of the National Socialists’ attempt to eradicate the so-called ‘degenerate art’ of German public collections. It was sold on the international market for 120 US dollars. In 1958 the US collector who bought it from a gallery donated it to the Detroit Institute of Arts.
