Notwithstanding his belated recognition, Anselmo Miguel Nieto is now considered one of the most outstanding Spanish artists of the first third of the twentieth century. Half-way between expressionistic realism and utopian modernism, he specialised mostly in representing women from the wealthy bourgeoisie.

This elegant portrait with its deep and bright palette is a superb example of the painter’s fascination with women’s iconography. It acknowledges the influence of the post-symbolist tradition, where golden tones refer to the maturity of the model, red her sensuality, and the carnations carnal love. With loose and assured brushstrokes, the artist tries to capture the qualities of the objects and the fabrics with a play of light and shadow, which imbue the work with a tension and movement that balance out the nearly architectural stillness of the figure. The evocation of the chromatic harmonies suggested in the title and the association between the chromatic richness and the erotic content are a late legacy of the aestheticism of the Modernisme movement.

The portrait was presented in the exhibition dedicated to Anselmo Miguel Nieto, Valentín de Zubiaurre (1879-1963), his brother Ramón (1882-1969) and Eugenio Hermoso (1883-1963) with which Salón Vilches opened its new gallery in 1924. After that show, it remained in the collection of the painter and then passed into the possession of his daughter, Margarita Miguel. From there it entered the holdings of Banco Exterior de España, currently within the BBVA Collection.