In the early 1890s, Bonnard began to explore a new subject—the Parisienne. Images of thin, fragile, but elegant female figures began to appear in his paintings and prints. Here a woman with a parasol, dressed in a very stylish black dress and elaborate hat, struggles slightly for balance as she ascends a set of stairs into an unknown space. The model has been identified as Marthe de Meligny, whom Bonnard met in 1893 and with whom he spent most of his life.