This was the only time Magritte used a shaped frame for one of his paintings. The painting was originally square, but several months after painting it the artist decided to cut it down and have a new frame specially made. He may have been influenced by a pair of portraits in shaped frames painted by Salvador Dalí the previous year. Magritte wrote that the finished work 'constitutes a rather surprising object, I think.' Magritte was very particular about the titles of his works, and preferred them to be poetic and surprising rather than descriptive.