Seated girl with a green chain

Seated Girl with a Green Chain from 1904, at the Kunsthalle Mannheim, is notable for its unusual accessory — a green chain or necklace worn by the girl, which introduces a specific decorative detail into an otherwise austerely simplified figure study. Modersohn-Becker occasionally introduced jewelry into her child and girl portraits, perhaps because such objects gave the sitters an individuality beyond their role as types. The Kunsthalle Mannheim holds an important collection of German Expressionism and its immediate precursors, where Modersohn-Becker's work occupies a significant position as a bridge between the Worpswede realist tradition and the coming Expressionist generation.

The green chain introduces color into the lower part of the composition, drawing the eye down from the face to the necklace in a structured visual movement. The girl's expression and posture are rendered with Modersohn-Becker's characteristic directness — unposed, unsmiling, simply present.