Girl in a Blue Dress

• Robin Christian Andersen (1890‒1969)
• c. 1913/14
• Oil on canvas
• Leopold Museum, Vienna

A girl is sitting with her arms crossed in front of a shabby grayish-brown wall. She seems deep in her thoughts but her dark eyes are reddened as if she had just wept. Robin Christian Andersen conveys the sitter’s emotions with cool, subdued colors. He was one of the artists who founded the Neukunstgruppe in protest against the conservative teachings of the academy. Participating in new artistic trends, he explored the expression of individual and intense emotions.