Rufino Tamayo, one of the best known Latin American artists, was a Zapotecan Indian born in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. He moved to Mexico City where he attended the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plasticas "San Carlos." Tamayo was exposed to the cultural wealth of pre-Colombian Mexico as he worked as a draftsman at the Museo Nacional de Arqueologia. While his contemporaries Siqueiros, Rivera and Orozco were advocating art as a political medium; Tamayo's work focused on plastic forms integrated with a masterful use of colors and textures.

This particular work displays the convergence of cultural influences that helped shape Tamayo's artistic oevre. Elements of European modernism, which inspired Tamayo while living in Europe as a participant of the avant garde, are present in his rendering of imagery. Despite these modernist overtones, there is a strong, sensual undertow of pre-Columbian influence that is characteristic of Tamayo's work. The result is a hybrid of aesthetic sensibilities and cultural inspirations. His exhibitions have been in major museums such as the Palacio Nacional de Bellas Artes, Mexico, The Philips Collection in Washington, The Guggenheim Museum in New York, The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte reina Sofia in Madrid as well as important art galleries throughout the world.