1919, oil on canvas, 108 x 155.5 cm,
Museum Leopold/Vienna
One of the artist's most important works. Out of a ground, not representationally
articulated, a discontinuous black outline crystallises into the form of a
reclining nude woman. The picture is not inspired by a classical goddess,
nor is it a trivial studio scene. It is created out of sheer artistic necessity.
H. B. does not really distinguish between the body of woman and the room where
she is lying. The gaunt nude is drawn very precisely in its foreshortening;
even the young woman's mood is expressed intensely in the slight angle of
the head and the lowered gaze.
(K. A. Schröder)
