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The half-length portrait of a blonde woman wearing a hat is in a narrow portrait format, with the subject cut off at the right edge of the picture. The figure holds some flowers in her right hand, turns to the left and keeps her head down, so that her face is only partially visible and is in profile. The overall colour scheme is reduced and dark. As a result, the subject becomes fully recognisable only after prolonged observation.
Clara Rilke-Westhoff began her artistic training in Munich, where she attended a private painting school in the 1890s. At that time, women were not allowed to study at an academy and could only study privately. In 1898 she took drawing lessons with Fritz Mackensen in Worpswede, near her home town of Bremen. There she became friends with other artists from the colony, including Otto Modersohn and Paula Modersohn-Becker, and met her future husband, Rainer Maria Rilke. During a study visit to Paris in 1900, she met Auguste Rodin. Rilke-Westhoff became known as a portraitist and created busts of Paula Modersohn-Becker, Heinrich Vogeler, Rainer Maria Rilke and the writer Ricarda Huch, among others. Her entire oeuvre fell into oblivion for many decades. Her paintings, in particular, are still largely in private hands and are rarely seen in public.

This small painting entered the Museum's collection through the art trade in 1997. It is the only work by the artist in the Museum's collection. Little is known about the history of the object, and its provenance is still under investigation.