The reference to classical mythology, both in the title of this work and in the Greek mask featured, was probably inspired by Agar's trip to the south of France in 1939. With this collage, which was based on a cut-out illustration of a ‘primitive’ mask, Agar evokes a world of carefree indulgence, much as she imagines the fabled lotus eaters to have inhabited. When the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art acquired the work, Agar wrote a note concerning the title: “Lotophagi: A fabulous people living on the Lotus-flower, the effect of which was to make the eater forget his own country and desire to live in the Lotus-land of his own choosing. The legend was the origin of [this] collage”.