Another work painted while in Berlin - this time the sitter is clearly someone close to the artist, there's a sense of uneasiness about peering into this person's life. The artist is equally drawn and yet scared to go too far. The woman, buried in her studies, is unaware of the eye watching her. It seems to be at once ravished by her and yet petrified. The smoke from her cigarette burns the retina. The title eludes to the simplicity of the composition1