 Serisawa's style was influenced by European Impressionists such as Renoir, Monet and Degas whose works he admired and studied extensively.Serisawa also was influenced by earlier European masters, including EI Greco, Rembrandt and Velasquez, and these various artistic influences resulted in what became for him a blending of the California Landscape School with Impressionism and his move from almost exclusively landscapes to portraits.The portrait of Garland was one of the last he did before he was forced to leave the West Coast due to the start of WWII.