Head of a Woman
1911 · Oil on board · Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
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About this work
- Artist
- Alexej von Jawlensky (1864–1941)
- Year
- 1911
- Medium
- Oil on board
- Original size
- 52.2 × 50.2 cm
- Collection
- Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
- Movement
- Expressionism
A woman's head and shoulders fill the board, her face painted in yellow and green with violet and red in the shadows and outlined in heavy dark blue, under a mass of hair or a hat in red, orange and black; the ground behind her is a deep, broken blue. The eyes are large and dark, the expression grave. Jawlensky painted it in 1911 in Munich, at the high point of his Expressionist portraits, when he and his circle, including Kandinsky and Marianne von Werefkin, were using pure, unmixed colour and strong outline to convey feeling rather than likeness. Such heads, mask-like and blazing with colour, are the root of the series of ever more abstract heads he painted from 1917 into the 1930s. It is in the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A grave face in yellow and green under red-orange hair against deep blue, for a living room, study or bedroom at 24×36 in black. A deep blue, mustard or warm white wall; it pairs with Lady with Fan.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Expressionism painting
- Era
- 20th century (1911)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- intimate
- Rooms
- living room, bedroom, study or library, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 24×36. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — natural wood flatters the lighter palette; black sharpens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Head of a Woman in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Head of a Woman painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.



















