Literature: Guy Atkins: “Jorn in Scandinavia 1930–1953”, London, 1968, no. 560. Exhibited: “Asger Jorn”. One-man exhibition without a catalogue. The exhibition represented a group of Tunisian paintings. A small brochure for the exhibition contained an Essay comparatif by René Renne and Claude Serbanne, Galerie Breteau, 2–16 November, Paris, 1948. Provenance: Galerie Breteau, Paris, from the artist. Provenance: The Danish painter Victor Brockdorff. Provenance: Private collection, Denmark.

Jorn lived with his family on the island of Djerba in Tunesia during the winter of 1947–1948. Jorn painted around twenty to thirty paintings on Djerba. Apart from the landscapes there is a characteristic style of figure composition from Djerba. Like the present painting which depicts a pair of semi-human beast who stares at each other with hieratic fixity. The bodies are a vertical network of adjacent lines, which makes them appear as if they were made out of thick wire.