Picasso painted this work, one of his best-known neoclassical pictures, upon his return to Paris after a summer sojourn in Cap d'Antibes. There, he and his wife, Olga, socialized with the charismatic American expatriates Gerald and Sara Murphy. Because Sara Murphy had beautifully regular features, some writers believe that this canvas is a portrait of her. However, photographs that Picasso took of Olga posing in front of related classical heads demonstrate that at least she thought they were depictions of her.
This picture belonged to the New York collector Lillie P. Bliss, one of the founders of the Museum of Modern Art. She bequeathed the painting to the Modern, from whom the Metropolitan purchased the work in 1951 as part of a cooperative agreement (1947-53).