Fritz Erler, best known as a founding member and spokesman of the artist group "Scholle" and one of the most recognized painters in Munich around the turn of the century, devoted great attention to portrait painting from an early age on. After getting married to Anna Hörger in 1903, she became his favorite model. He repeatedly shows her in different clothes, fashionably up-to-date and with strong colors that underline her personality. At the time, Munich was a stronghold of bohemian art, which is also known for its imaginative and wild carnival celebrations. Our portrait was created on the occasion of a carnival ball in 1907 at the home of the Hermann Bischoff family, composer and Strauss pupil, with whom the Erlers were friends. Anna Erler appears here in a deep red Spanish costume with ruffles and flounces, her proud posture theatrical. Erler dissolves the background into the angular patches of color that are so typical of him, giving the composition a vibrant, lively character. This harmonious rhythm of color surfaces is not least owed to Fritz Erler's background in applied and graphic art. The idea of the picture's decorative flatness would also find expression in his contributions to the then seminal agazine "Jugend", making the first cover as early as in 1895/96. As characteristic of Art Nouveau, female figures framed by decorative ornamentation dominate here, for which his wife repeatedly posed as a model. This painting finally made it on the cover of the famous magazine in 1911. [KT]