Silkkikenkä (silk shoes)

Conceived in a large oil painting of 1882, Silk shoes is one of the most reprised works in Schjerfbeck's oeuvre and one of the most instantly recognisable of the artist's motifs. It is also the earliest subject she reprised as a lithograph. A later version of the work, sold in 1990, remains the most expensive work by the artist to have appeared at auction. The subject of the work is Schjerfbeck's cousin, Esther Lupander, whose long legs gave rise to the painting's nickname, 'The grasshopper'. Just as in The convalescent, the later lithograph focusses on the figure, removing any background or extraneous detail and presenting a pure and expressive image of the innocence of childhood. The lithograph was produced in two versions, the first in an edition of 75 and the second in an edition of 50.