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The first Hungarian painter that met the latest trends of contemporary French painting was Rippl-Rónai, Czóbel was the second in the line: he worked together with Les Fauves in 1905-08. This picture bears marks of post-impressionism rather than those of Les Fauves. The body, especially the hand and the face are depicted in a highly scuplturesque way. He uses clear and strong colours stressed by contours. Black contours make the composition even more homogeneous. The pattern of the lines recalls the decorativeness of art nouveau which is enhanced by the oriental rug and the colourful spines of books piled up. The turbulent background accentuates the huge dark patch of the man sitting. Although Czóbel works out some details with minute thoroughness, he is only inspired by problems of painting. The body from bottom-view and the table with the rug in over-view present a chracteristic effect of three dimensions reduced to two. Post-impressionistic painters were in search of laws controlling optic unity once they were in possession of view.
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