In 1908, Rainer Maria Rilke wrote his "Requiem for a Friend" in memory of Paula Modersohn-Becker, the German painter who had had a profound effect on him, both personally and artistically, and who had died a year earlier. Modersohn-Becker, despite being one of the great modern painters, is today remembered primarily as she is portrayed in that poem.

In Dear Friend, Eric Torgersen looks at the relationship of these two great artists whose vexed seven-year friendship was extraordinarily productive for both, and offers an introduction to the life and work of Modersohn-Becker, a gifted and determined woman whose work stands comparison with that of any painter of her day.

Included in the book are sixteen illustrations as well as new translations by Torgersen of Rilke's "Requiem for a Friend" and of the love poems Rilke wrote for Becker shortly after they met. Torgersen discusses Modersohn-Becker's vital paintings, including her unfinished portrait of Rilke. He quotes extensively from the letters and journals of both figures, translating many of Rilke's into English for the first time.

Finally, Torgersen addresses the unanswered question of whether the two were ever lovers, and offers new insights into Rilke's writing of "Requiem for a Friend."