The Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke and the painter Paula Modersohn-Becker had been close friends since around 1901. In 1902, however, he didn't mentioned her, nor his own wife, Clara Westhoff, in his art book Worpswede über die Künstlerkolonie , about an artists colony.[2]
In 1906, Modersohn-Becker and Rilke were both living in a boarding house in Paris and had close contact with each other. This portrait was created at that time as an oil tempera on cardboard painting.[3][4]
The portrait focus on his head, depicting Rilke with a thoughtful and introspective expression, in earthy tones and expressive textures.
Afterwards, both returned to their families. Modersohn-Becker died the following year, shortly after giving birth to a child. The tragic loss deeply affected Rilke. He processed his grief in his poem Requiem for a Friend (1908).[5]
Rilke disliked the current portrait, despite his friendship with the artist. In 1922, Rilke wrote in a letter that he didn't liked any of the portraits that had been made of him so far, with the exception of a bust by Fritz Huf [de].[6]
Despite his disapproval, the depiction made by Modersohn-Becker became one the most famous of his portraits.
