Portrait of Berta Dylion

Painted in 1917, during the years when the First World War was reshaping Europe and displacing communities across the continent, this portrait of Berta Dylion belongs to the later phase of Boznańska's career — a period less celebrated than her turn-of-the-century peak but no less artistically serious. Boznańska remained in Paris throughout the war years, continuing to paint despite the disruption to exhibition circuits and the attrition of the social world that had sustained portrait commissions. The sitter's name suggests she may have been part of the cosmopolitan, multilingual milieu that Paris hosted even during wartime. Boznańska's late portraits show a continuation of her established method, though with occasional variations in palette that reflect both the changed mood of the times and her own evolving sensibility. The oil-on-canvas format belongs to her standard practice for formal sittings, and the portrait participates in the same tradition of intimate psychological exploration that had defined her reputation since the 1890s.

The wartime period did not substantially alter Boznańska's technique, and the canvas demonstrates her enduring preference for restrained, grey-dominant tonalities with focused tonal development in the face. Paint application in the background remains loose and atmospheric, while the face receives finer attention, particularly around the eyes. The composition follows her established vertical format with the figure close to the picture plane.