The head of E. O. W.

Tate Gallery, London, the UK.

Charcoal, watercolour, paper.

The work painted in watercolours and charcoal depicts the permanent model of the artist, actress Estella West. By the time of painting it, Auerbach had already created about 80 pictures of this woman; the artist never got tired of his models, tirelessly depicting them in various poses and noticing the slightest changes that happen to the person every day. In accordance with his usual method of work, the artist repeatedly erased and painted the image. He worked so hard that he got a hole in the sheet of paper on which he painted and had to glue that place with a piece of a patch. To create this portrait, which looks like a carelessly brief sketch, the artist needed about 70 sessions of posing.