Unlike the radical, geometric abstraction and camera-less photograms that defined his later career in the 1920s, his work from 1917–1919 relies heavily on figurative expressionism, figurative drawings, and early elements of Cubism and Futurism. While serving as an artillery officer in the Austro-Hungarian army during World War I, he was severely wounded. It was during his recovery in military hospitals between 1917 and 1919 that he intensely picked up drawing and painting, formulating his lifelong obsession with how the human mind processes light and space. During his recovery and subsequent attendance at Róbert Berény's art school in Budapest, Moholy-Nagy focused primarily on human figures, dramatic lighting, and deep psychological expressions. Works from this specific timeframe (such as Woman with Light Eyes and its companion pieces like Seated Woman II) are highly prized for showing the raw emotional foundation that predated his shift into absolute technical abstraction.