This searching double portrait dates to 1933, the year in which, following Hitler's accession to the German Chancellorship, Neuschul was dismissed from his position as Professor of Fine Arts at Berlin’s Academy and labelled a 'degenerate' artist. Neuschul suffered ethnic, political and cultural persecution under the Nazis and ultimately sought refuge in Britain. The portrait depicts the artist with Mimi, his protégée, model and muse, who lived with Ernest and his second wife, Christl, from 1934 onwards, in Germany and later in Britain.