Maufra first began painting at the age of 18. He was encouraged to do so by the Leduc brothers, artists from Nantes. Maufra’s father sent him to Liverpool at an early age where he trained in the basics of commerce.

Maufra was extremely impressed by the work of the English landscape painters he came across such as Turner, and between 1884 to 1890 Maufra began painting in his spare time. It was at this time that Maufra discovered the work of the Impressionists and exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1886. In 1890, Maufra, who was now a full-time artist, left Nantes for Pont-Aven in Brittany where he met Paul Gauguin and Paul Serusier. His time spent there would have a decisive impact on his style. Maufra had his for solo exhibition in Paris in 1894, at Le Barc de Boutteville, which Gauguin designed the poster for. He exhibited with Durand-Ruel, who remained his dealer throughout his life. On his return from Brittany, he was the first painter to take up residence in the well-known Bateau-Lavoir in Paris.

This painting is a typical landscape of Brittany where Maufra was in 1897. Maufra’s work of Pont-Aven period displayed an expression of powerful colours that he developed when in contact with Gauguin.