The golden face of the Spanish woman stands out against the background of the black spot, which is her hairdo; van Dongen introduced lilac and crimson ornamentation to her pearly clothes, which gave the painting a certain refined overall look.

The expressiveness of the Spanish Woman is achieved through a combination of simplified figurativeness and a decorative palette, which makes the portrait look like a vibrant festival of exquisite color spots. His interpretation of the image is built around generalized typical traits rather than individual features. Nevertheless, van Dongen still does a “close-up” of his model’s face, making it possible for us to feel her solitude and adding a psychological dimension to this portrait, which we do not see often in fauvism. That could be explained by the painter’s Dutch origin.