[1] It is unknown if she was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale "The Little Mermaid" in the same way as other Danish artists such as Edvard Eriksen with his Little Mermaid and the painter Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann, but she was familiar with mythological subjects.

The work was exhibited at Den Frie Udstilling in Copenhagen in 1921 and the Danish National Gallery subsequently purchased the bronze cast for DKK 4,500.

[6] The cast was a gift to the Royal Danish Library from the Carl Nielsen and Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen Foundation.

She is also depicted in a more dynamic pose and with a more dramatic expression than that of Eriksen's more famous mermaid: She has a terrified look in her eyes and appears to have just come out of the water, gasping for breath and with hair dripping with water.

The Carl Nielsen specialist John Fellow has suggested that the mermaid's tormented facial expression is Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen's comment to her difficult marriage and her husband's repeated infidelity.