In 1887, Paul Gauguin, together with fellow-artist Charles Laval, spent four months on the island of Martinique. Both artists were hoping to find an idyllic environment on the Caribbean island. Using scintillating colours and bold compositions, they captured the island in their paintings and drawings as a primitive and tropical paradise. In doing so they clung to their original ideals while ignoring the harsh everyday reality of a colonized world.

Their Martinique works occupy a unique position within the oeuvre of both Gauguin and Laval. And, although their stay on the island was brief, it was nonetheless decisive for their future artistic development.