One year before creating this gouache, Chagall was recognized as a member of the French canon in Maurice Raynal's Modern French Painting.

Chagall gave the painting to the laborer Pierre Balayn as a sign of their long and close friendship. In his old age, Balayn received social benefits. Out of gratitude for a dignified retirement, he bequeathed the painting to the city of Fontenay-sous-Bois on the condition that it be publicly displayed. Louis Bayeurte, mayor at the time, had it hung in the town hall. In 2000, it was entrusted to the musee d'art et d'historie du Judaisme. It left the Paris area for the first time to be shown in Paris Magnetique.