Portrait of Lena

The painting dates back to the 1930s, the final decade of the prematurely deceased artist’s activity. Leopold Gottlieb’s works from that period ooze transience and subtlety apparent in their pastel palette.

The female figure is portrayed frontally. Her upright silhouette, handsome face and trendy hairstyle are formal devices positioning the sitter within the framework of her times. In the depiction, Gottlieb managed to capture secret spiritual traits. The blue eyes looking downwards express solitude and nostalgia for something lost. The smudged blue of her irises suggests that she is near to tears and we can sense the longing of the portrayed woman. Lena’s despondency and evident loneliness are underlined by her thin lips, pale and pursed.

The artist perfectly limned the woman’s psyche. The subtle manner of representation is emphasised by the pure greyish-blue background. Its homogeneity brings emptiness to mind – a metaphorical realm of the sitter’s emotional state. The artist inscribed a dedication on the painting: Frau Lena in Freundschaft (To Ms Lena with friendship) which suggests that the vicissitudes of her life must have been fairly familiar to him. Might it be that he revealed his own premonitions in this portrait? The painting constitutes a consummate psychological study rendered in a beautiful colour palette.