Between 1896 and 1901, Matisse's painting had progressed from the subdued tones of his earliest works to an intense colorism that prefigured the Fauvism to come.

In 1896 and 1897 he had traveled to Brittany, where the Australian painter John Russell encouraged him to paint en plein air.

Her mother (who was the Humbert family's housekeeper) and father became scapegoats in the scandal; as a result, Matisse was forced to spend much of his time during the next year dealing with lawyers and journalists.

[1] According to art historian Hilary Spurling, "their public exposure, followed by the arrest of his father-in-law, left Matisse as the sole breadwinner for an extended family of seven.

He darkened his palette, with the results seen in the present work, and in such paintings as Carmelina (1903, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).