Delvaux’s work often refers more or less openly to well-known paintings. The subject and composition of this drawing probably suggests that artist had Edouard Manet’s Olympia in mind (1863; Musée d’Orsay, Paris). The elaborate hat worn by the visitor on the right is reminiscent of the figure drawings Picasso made during the Occupation, some of which turn on the theme of a male or female figure contemplating a reclining nude. The theme of bourgeois spectators casually examining a nude occurs throughout Delvaux’s work. For example, La Visite recalls a large painting Delvaux made in 1932, 'The Sleeping Venus' (La Vénus endormie) which shows a group of people gazing at a nude.