Self-portrait with a camellia branch

Paula Modersohn-Becker, 1907
Self-portrait with a camellia branch, Paula Modersohn-Becker
Self-portrait with a camellia branch, zoomed in
61.5 cmSelf-portrait with a camellia branch scale comparison30.5 cm

Self-portrait with a camellia branch is an Expressionist Oil on Canvas Painting created by Paula Modersohn-Becker in 1907. It lives at the Museum Folkwang in Germany. The image is in the Public Domain, and tagged Self-portraits. SourceDownloadSee Self-portrait with a camellia branch in the Kaleidoscope

Paula Modersohn-Becker holds a camellia branch in this serene self portrait, a symbol of the eternal cycle of blooming and withering, life and death. Her gentle expression and enlarged eyes mirror the coptic saints, and hint at her interest in the antique mummy portraits she'd seen during visits to the Louvre. On July 26th, 1900, Becker noted in her diary, “I know that I won’t live very long. But is that sad? Is a festival better because it’s longer? And my life is a festival, a short, intensive festival.”

This was Becker’s last painting, painted during a trip to Paris. She died seven months later of an embolism, and here, at least, she’s at peace.

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