According to Sabartes, it was painted not long after his arrival in Paris from Spain (October 1901). He was sitting alone in a tavern, in a state of myopic isolation and boredom, until Picasso and some companions suddenly hurst into the room and cheered him up. A few days later, in Picasso's studio, Sabartes was shown this painting, which he recognized as portraying 'the spectre of my solitude'. It is arguably the first work of Picasso's 'Blue Period', characterized not only by all-pervasive blue tones but by a preoccupation with suffering, rejection and poverty.