This drawing is part of the work Auguste Rodin produced in parallel to his sculptures. In the catalog published on the occasion of his first exhibition of drawings in Paris he wrote: “My drawings are the key to my work […] I have drawn all my life; I started my life drawing”. From 1890, Rodin began to produce drawings that directly captured the movement and immediacy he observed in the human body, distancing himself from the more academic sources, yet with the expressive and dramatic qualities he so admired in the work of Michelangelo.

Drawn with one single line, in Femme de dos, relevant son châle vert à la taille Rodin depicts a woman facing backwards at the exact moment when she takes off a green shawl. Her body is covered by a soft white gouache over a darker background. A more defined draft version of this drawing is preserved at the Rodin Museum in Paris. It portrays the same woman in an identical pose, but with adjustments made to her feet and dress.

There are many drawings from this period that share the same vision and concept, much like a small terracotta piece produced in 1899: Femme levant sa chemise.