Peggy Guggenheim described the taking of this photograph in her memoirs: “One day a young woman came into the gallery [Guggenheim Jeune]. She looked very masculine and said she had been sent by Marcel Duchamp, so we treated her well . . . I thought it would be amusing to give her a chance to show her slides in my gallery. I combined this with a farewell party [for the closing of the gallery, June 22, 1939] . . . After that Miss Freund photographed Mr. Read and me in my little flat . . . Behind us was a painting by Tanguy. We had to choose whether to cut this or ourselves in half. We decided to favor ourselves.” The painting is The Sun in Its Jewel Case (1937), which Guggenheim purchased from her July 1938 exhibition of paintings by Yves Tanguy.