This view of the artist's studio was probably painted in Paris. During this period Cézanne divided his time between his native Aix-en-Provence and Paris, and the picture evokes the privation of his Bohemian existence in the capital.

On the right a single flower stands in a vase on a table. A canvas stretcher is visible behind the stove, and a palette and what may be a small picture hang on the wall at the left.

The first owner of this work was Cézanne's boyhood friend, the writer Emile Zola.