Amanda Sidvall was one of the first 18 students in the ‘Women’s Department’ when the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts formally opened its doors to women in 1864. In 1874 she went to Paris to continue her studies at the Académie Julian. Sidvall received good reviews in her lifetime and became an established artist. At the Paris Salon of 1877, two of her paintings were sold to the French state. This self-portrait in a hat with a blue silk bow was painted while she was still a student
at the Stockholm Academy.