Michael Argov was born in Vienna in 1920 but later emigrated to Palestine with his parents, both Zionist merchants. Froma 1933 Argov studied at the Avni Studio and it was here that he first met Yehezkeil Streichman. Encouraged by Argov, Streichman established the Studia Art School. It was here that Argov, along with many other important Israeli artists, worked and studied. After a brief sojourn to Paris in 1946, Argov was to return again to the capital in 1949 where he took up a place at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. It was during this period that Woman in Green was painted. Showing clearly the influence of Matisse, Dalia Manor states that Argov: "placed his models in rigid, frontal position, with only a slight movement of the hands and painted the body, the clothing and face in thick outlines. Both in the composition and in the flat, schematic portrayals of the figures of the early Fifties there is an echo of Matisse's portraits (1909-1917). The idea of portrayed figure as a kind of 'still life' is particularly notable in those paintings in which it is placed alongside other objects – a vase of flowers or a chair, for instance – producing a dialogue of forms, colours and patterns."