Presented against a neutral backdrop, the striking figure in Sans-Souci (This threshold between a dematerialized and a historicized body) looks directly at the viewer with a calm yet powerful expression, giving the painting a mysterious quality reminiscent of neoclassical portrait painting. The subject is painted with yellow and ruby swatches of color and wears an exquisite headdress. The sitter’s pose resembles the subject of Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans’s painting, Creole in a Red Headdress (ca. 1840), often regarded as a stereotypical representation of a sensuous black woman from antebellum New Orleans. Exemplified in this work, Báez is known for her painterly explorations on the tignon—a headscarf that was mandated by law to be worn by free women of color in Louisiana to prevent them from attracting white men. Here, the figure’s gaze communicates a sense of authority, which draws attention to the history of the sensualized depictions of these women, who in reality had an unapologetic approach toward the mandate, decorating their headdress with beautiful textiles, ribbons, and feathers. In this painting, Báez acknowledges the history of the garment, and reinterprets it as symbol of pride and resistance.