A young woman with striking blue eyes gazes directly outward, her head tilted and her lips parted as if caught mid-thought. Her copper hair is swept under a vivid red headscarf, which frames her pale face and contrasts sharply with the neutral, textured background. The sitter wears a high, ruffled white collar above a dark, almost black garment, the folds of which are rendered with thick, expressive brushstrokes.

The background is built up from swirling, impasto strokes of off-white and grey, giving the surface a restless, tactile energy. The composition is tightly cropped, with the figure filling almost the entire panel and her shoulders pressed to the lower edge, intensifying the sense of immediacy. The artist’s signature and the date 1912 appear in the lower left corner, set against a wedge of bright green.

A patch of bright green fabric or surface is visible at the lower right, intersecting with the sitter’s dark garment and echoing the green wedge in the lower left corner. The lower right corner contains geometric shapes in blue, brown, and red, suggesting folded fabric or patterned cloth beneath the sitter’s arm. Light falls most strongly on the left side of the sitter’s face, creating a subtle highlight on her cheekbone and forehead, while shadows define the right side of her face and neck.

The paint is applied in thick, directional strokes, especially in the background and the dark garment, producing a textured, almost sculptural surface. A jagged, white triangular form juts out behind the sitter’s head on the left, interrupting the swirling background and framing the headscarf. The edges of the panel are irregular and rough, with areas where the background color appears scraped or thinly painted, particularly at the upper left and lower right corners. Following a long legal dispute over its ownership, the Leopold Museum reached an agreement in 2010 to pay $19 million to Bondi’s heirs, resolving all outstanding claims.