The Prostitute reveals the raw realism of a woman waiting in despair for a client, framed by her window. She is stripped bare of any erotic appeal. In modern art, the ‘prostitute’ became emblematic of modernity. It was believed in early 20th century, particularly in Germany, that society’s idolisation of money led to a loss of community and increased alienation. The female prostitute became a symbol of this alienation. So Wald would have identified in this female figure  the fundamental suffering of mankind.