Frauenkopf vor Sonnenblumen

This striking portrait, painted on cardboard, captures a woman's head emerging from a vibrant field of sunflowers. Her face, rendered with bold brushstrokes, is a study in contrasts: a pale, almost mask-like quality set against the riotous yellow and orange of the flowers. The artist, a founder of the Expressionist group Die Brücke, uses a direct and unvarnished style, evident in the simplified forms and the raw energy of the paint application. The sunflowers themselves are not merely background but an active, almost overwhelming presence, their petals rendered with a dynamic, almost aggressive texture. This painting, made in 1906, embodies the Expressionist desire to convey inner emotion rather than objective reality, presenting a figure deeply intertwined with her natural surroundings, almost consumed by them.