Les pavots dans un pot jaune

In August 1913, Foujita travelled to Paris planning to stay there for four years. There he realized, for the first time, how much the avant-grade art in Europe had evolved and was much astonished by these art movements, like Fauvism and Cubism. The artist was experiencing a period in which all kinds of artistic style were thriving vigorously, though it did not last long enough for him because of the outbreak of the First World War. In Foujita's article, Seventeen Years in France, published in the Tokyo Asahi Shimbun, the artist mentioned that he 'smashed his paint box' after seeing Picasso's work. Later on, he described his creation as 'a combination of meticulously executed lines in Japanese painting style and the liberation of Matisse'. Foujita soon adapted to Parisian lifestyle and greatly enjoyed exposing himself to different artworks and meeting artists instead of receiving formal training at an art academy.