One of the major figures of the Fauvist movement, Othon Friesz met Henri Matisse, Albert Marquet and Georges Rouault in Paris. Like them, he rebelled against the academic teaching of Leon Bonnat and became a member of the Fauves group, starting to exhibit with them in 1907.

He painted in 1908 an ambitious composition, Les Baigneuses des Andelys (Centre Georges Pompidou – Paris), which has often been compared with Luxe I (Musee du Petit Palais – Geneva), painted by Matisse a year before. This drawing of a standing female nude could be a preparatory work for the standing figure in the painting (see additional image).