Paula Modersohn-Becker (1906). Self-Portrait with an Amber Necklace [oil on canvas]. Offentliche Kunstsammlung Basel, Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerland.

I believe Modersohn-Becker applied her formal choices with minimal planning, but instead relied on her robust understanding of formal expression and visual design as a guide. In terms of energy, the composition reflects the condition of the subject: Warm and at peace. In these ways, there is a balanced blending of calculation and instinctual energy that supports this works organic, unified character. 
A split complementary color scheme is at work with dense greens and pale blues on the cool end set up against orangish-pinks on the warm end. The axis does not seem bent, connecting cyan-ish and fiery red. The value pattern supports the compositions confused sense of depth. Modeling is present in the development of the subjects body while background forms are more planar, but their stark contrast and the slight distortion of her features tends to flatten the composition. 
Modersohn-Becker gestures to her necklace, but her expression is directed at the observer and seems to reference the expressive qualities of the Virgin in Buoninsegna’s Virgin and Child in Majesty. This is probably to emphasize the loosely symmetrical quality of the composition more than to make a conceptual connection. In addition, the patterning of the leaf-forms effectively brackets her face, which contains the most pictorial detail. 
Conflicts are subtle and contextual in nature: A single, solid subject and tiny, dense forms that build a pattern; lightness and warmth and a backdrop of coolness. This work is and perfect example of conceptual and perceptual balance. Features are rendered with reduced but respectable recognizability, but not a single formal choice exists that doesn’t provide a clue about the subject’s character and emotional state.