Fergusson visited Paris regularly and settled there in 1907. He quickly became immersed in the cultural life of the avant-garde: he participated in exhibitions, wrote exhibition reviews and taught. Influenced by French Fauvist painting, his painting style swiftly evolved. Brightly coloured and energetic in its brushwork, Flowers and Pink Box is the first still life by Fergusson to enter the national collection. It dates from 1911, when Fergusson was editor of the journal Rhythm. Fergusson’s work of this period often has strong sexual overtones, and there may be a covert erotic reference here: he is believed to have used the pink box to keep his prophylactics. The same box features in two of Fergusson’s best-known paintings of the period, Still Life with Blue Lamp, 1912 in the City Art Centre Collection, Edinburgh, and La Bête violette, 1910, in a private collection.