Picasso became passionately involved in ceramic creation in the autumn of 1947 in Vallauris, in the Madoura workshop taken over by Suzanne and Georges Ramie. Picasso travelled to Vallauris, a former pottery production centre in the south of France, where he visited an exhibition of local crafts. It was on this occasion that he had the chance to meet the Ramies (Suzanne Douly and Georges Ramie), owners of a local red clay production workshop, which stimulated the artistic inspiration and curiosity of this great and versatile artist.

He decorated pieces, sometimes modifying their shape while the clay was still soft. In the south of France, he returned to the classical themes that had marked his childhood. The Hispano-Moorish style, as well as pre-Columbian ceramics, with their zoomorphic and anthropomorphic subjects, undoubtedly also inspired the artist.

Picasso mastered traditional ceramic techniques. Nevertheless, the anthropomorphic subject allowed him to vary forms and styles.