"[…] J’ai essayé/ de commencer un grand tableau/ ballade à l’arc en ciel ou un Concert d’ange, pour m’evadér de toutes les choses douloureuses/ dont nous vivons depuis/ la guerre, parfois vous devez/ trouvez dans la nature une/ grande consolation, car comme/ dit notre cher Rollinat la nature/ ne rend heureux les innocent[s] et les sages, quelle profonde verite […]" [sic] (... I have tried to begin a large painting, a walk under the rainbow or an angels’ concert, to escape all the sad things we have been going through since the start of the war, sometimes you may find great comfort in nature because, as our dear Rollinat says, nature makes happy only the innocent and the wise, what a profound truth ...) (Philippe Smit 1942)
This letter tells us that the idea for this pastel was already born at the time of his stay in Pau during the war1. It was surely due to the unfavourable situation that it was not possible for him to execute on site this project, the achievement of which had to wait until the artist's return to Thoury-Ferrottes.
1. See Chronology 1940.