The exclusivity with which Kleinschmidt devoted himself to the subject of women (his wife Margarethe usually served as a model) is probably unparalleled. Equally incomparable is the unflinching directness with which he grasps reality and evokes its literally plump actuality. In his paintings, lush barmaids, waitresses, strumpets, dancers, and circus riders act with great poise in seemingly banal situations.
Kleinschmidt, son of a theater director and an actress, is no moralist. His women are modern monuments of femininity. Kleinschmidt places erotic accessories, plump buffets and cake indulgences alongside them. Kleinschmidt's primary painterly interest can be seen in the fact that he develops his paintings entirely out of the paint, fixing the thingness immediately physically as impasto applied paint. Kleinschmidt heightens the color to a saturated physicality and signal-colored boldness.