Gauguin collected Japanese prints and took an assortment with him when he traveled. The qualities Gauguin admired in Japanese prints "flat, decorative shapes; bright colors; and dark outlines" were hallmarks of his art from the period when he worked in Pont-Aven, Arles, and the Caribbean island of Martinique. In 1889, he finished a series of zincographs based on his experiences there that were distinctly Japanese in their compositional structure and motifs. Two of the prints in the series have fan or quasi-fan shapes, including this one, which depicts a group of Breton women within a flattened landscape.