In pure red, blue, yellow, and green, Ruth Baumgarte's Studio Corner is her first expressive watercolor. At first glance, it appears to be a cozy middle-class scene with a chair, shelf, vase, and window. However, the still life with a jug of leafy branches and the edge of an easel extending into the right of the picture reveal that the room serves another purpose, namely teaching art.

Ruth Baumgarte worked as an art teacher at Ulrich-von-Hutten-Gymnasium secondary school in Berlin-Lichtenrade after graduating from art school and taking her first professional commissions. From July 1945 on, classes were held in the headmaster's house opposite the actual school building, which had been destroyed. There is nothing in the image to suggest a cold autumnal evening in October with the exception of a few dark shadows in the window and a flex. Baumgarte uses the wet-on-wet technique to infuse the colors with such energy that they lend their own light to the room and suggest an early change in the season.