Girl at the Gate is, along with Dancing Shoes and the Convalescent, among Schjerfbeck’s best-known compositions and one that exists in four painted versions. The first watercolour version, executed between 1897-1902 is considered Schjerfbeck’s first work executed in her new, pared-down style which she adopted after 1900. In the three later versions, all made in 1943-44 the style has become even more liberated and schematic. The present work, version IV, was executed in 1943-44, no doubt commissioned by Gösta Stenman who encouraged Schjerfbeck to re-visit earlier compositions, in paint and also as lithographs.

The model is Eva Thilén, the youngest of the three daughters of Johan and Wilhelmiina Thilén, relatives of Schjerfbeck’s good friend and fellow artist Ada Thilén. A Finnish speaker, Eva worked all her life as an insurance clerk. As a child, she and her sisters also modelled for other women artists including Maria Wiik, Elin Danielson-Gambogi, and Ada Thilén.