In Head of a Girl, Dobrinsky portrays a young girl, possibly an orphan, whose tight-lipped mouth is sealed like a closed box. Her fixed stare and adult expression appear to express disenchantment perhaps with the harshness of life. In contrast to her dark expression and bare surroundings, the painter uses a light, luminous, warm palette and lively brushstrokes. In the 1950s Dobrinsky worked at the Chateau de Chabannes, Limousin, which cared for children orphaned by the Nazis, where he painted numerous portraits of the staff and children. This portrait predates but seems to anticipate this appointment.