In Self-Portrait (1928), the artist stands, wholly absorbed in what she is doing, sketchbook in hand and with a focused gaze. The colours are warm: red and blue for the figure, harmonizing with the background’s ochre tones. Intensive brushwork, making use of many of the palette’s colours, brings the surfaces to life. Derkert was forty when she painted it, but her lower body especially is reminiscent of a young girl’s, petite and with a slim waist. Her upper body is more characterful: strong arms fill the blouse sleeves and her shoulders are broad, offset in a way that makes her body asymmetrical. Her disproportionately small head, taken with the elongated format, makes her look taller.
Philippa Nanfeldt from The Collection Gothenburg Museum of Art, Gothenburg 2014