This work belongs to a series that Dubuffet called ‘beaten pastes’ because the main paint layer resembled butter, into which he scratched the graffiti-like figures. He wrote ‘I am at a loss to explain just what it was in these paintings that gave me - that still gives me - such a keen satisfaction. It probably has something to do with the physical pleasure derived from spreading freely, with a large spatula as broad as one’s hand, this beautiful white paste... then letting the long knife wander over the smooth paste, tracing with such perfect ease graffiti of sonorous colours.’