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Although František Drtikol is often considered one of the world's most important photographers of the first three decades of the 20th century and his work can be found in a number of public and private collections, in 1935, at the age of 52, he sold his studio on Prague's Vodičkova Street. At the time he said he had put an end to his photography career and he returned to his love – painting. The topics of his paintings were landscapes, symbolic compositions that built on his photographs of nudes, and still lifes with floral motifs; in some cases the paintings approached abstraction. "Dancer" depicts a figure in movement, a typical theme for Drtikol that is based on his photography. He earned acclaim for his early photographs of female nudes, demonstrating a special sense for poetry and harmony influenced by Art Deco and the avant-garde. He characterized them by explaining, "I let myself be inspired by three things in my work: decoration, movement and rest, and the expression of individual lines. The dancing figure of a partially nude faceless women with flowing hair seems to be stepping out of a dream, dancing only for that one moment." Published in the book František Drtikol, Vladimír Birgus a Antonín Braný, Odeon 1988, p. 42.