Irmgard von Voigtländer, the daughter of the famous German manufacturer of camera lenses, is around 30 years old in this painting. She was born in central Germany, but about a decade before this work was created, she moved to Estonia and married the director Karl Menning. She had met him in Germany, where she also studied directing herself, but here in Estonia, she gave up – or was forced to give up – her creative aspirations and became a homemaker. She learned Estonian and spoke it without an accent, interacted with locals, and assimilated into the environment. However, when Konrad Mägi paints her, we see a completely elegant and exotic lady. According to contemporary memories, Irmgard Menning was “deep brunette, with small curls above her upper lip, beautiful and elegant, very different from Estonian women in type.” She doesn’t show us her face; she looks elsewhere, and her attire is unusual, mimicking the artistic clothing style of big cities. Irmgard Menning becomes noteworthy to Mägi because of her appearance, not because of her personality traits. Why did Mägi, who hailed from the rural population, paint a woman from the German bourgeoisie with such attention? And why does Mägi use so few colors in this painting, mainly just white and black, flowing in waves and creating contrasts? Did he momentarily lose interest in colors and yearn for something else? Or someone else?

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