In the post-war years of the early 1920s, Otto Dix was determined to make a name for himself. Known to have said, "I will either become notorious or famous," the artist succeeded in the former more than the latter by challenging conventions and painting ugly or taboo subjects in an increasingly realistic manner that became known as the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity). This painting of a young naked girl portrayed in an uncomfortably close and realistic style was certainly unconventional. The blue veins of her body are recorded in unsettling accuracy. Yet, the matter-of-fact portrayal of the young girl is not provocative. Rather, Dix presents her with an innocence devoid of shame about her natural state—a state emphasized by the artist's references to plant forms in the curtains behind her.