The Redhead

Henner's 'The Redhead,' painted in 1903, belongs to his extended series of women with auburn or red hair depicted against dark backgrounds—a chromatic and expressive speciality that became one of his most celebrated motifs. The red-haired model against deep shadow allowed Henner to demonstrate the interaction between warm orange-red tones and the cool dark ground, a purely pictorial challenge elevated by the work's Symbolist overtones of beauty, sensuality, and melancholy. By 1903 he was approaching his final years, but the series retained its chromatic clarity. The Saint Louis Art Museum holds the work.

The red-haired subject is Henner's most chromatic exercise—the warm orange-red of the hair creates the most vivid contrast possible against his characteristic dark neutral background. The face receives his typical sfumato treatment while the hair is rendered with greater intensity and directional texture.