On the failure of an artistic act of creation: Despite art history instructions from off-screen, a young woman fails to paint her self-portrait. Nevertheless, she joins a phalanx of female icons – from Mona Lisa to Brigitte Bardot. May Spils is a self-taught director, but her first film, Das Porträt, a clever and funny short color film about the difficulties artists face in creating a self-portrait, won an award at the 1966 International Film Week in Mannheim.

Loan of the film print with kind support of Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek.