She befriended Paula Becker (later Modersohn-Becker) and Ottilie Reylaender, who were painters there.

She continued her studies in 1899 with Carl Seffner and Max Klinger in Leipzig and, in 1900, trained with Auguste Rodin in Paris, also attending the Académie Colarossi.

Eighteen years later, she moved to Fischerhude with her daughter, Ruth Rilke.

Her work was privately owned or barely accessible to the public in various collections.

With her comprehensive biography in 1986, Marina Sauer initiated a rehabilitation of the artist by freeing Clara Rilke-Westhoff from being seen only as the wife of Rilke and as a friend of Paula Modersohn-Becker.