Nude girl standing 1906

Paula Modersohn-Becker painted this nude figure with oil on canvas, a material and process that connects her to a long lineage of European painting. Yet there is something resolutely modern in how she approached the medium. We can see the marks of the brush, applied with a directness that reflects a desire to record the very act of painting. The figure itself is also interesting. The subject matter – a nude – would traditionally be a highly idealized rendering of the body. But here, Modersohn-Becker has presented us with a subject who is palpably real, unglamorized. We must consider the social context in which this painting was made. At the turn of the twentieth century, there was an increased interest in depicting the realities of modern life, often in the face of academic convention. Modersohn-Becker's approach exemplifies a desire to push against the boundaries of what painting could be, and how it might function in society.