Coming from a modest background, Alice Bailly attended drawing classes at the École des demoiselles, which was adjacent to the École des Beaux-Arts in Geneva, at the time barred to women. She exhibited for the first time in 1900. After several stays in Valais between 1902 and 1904, she left Switzerland two years later to settle in Paris. In 1911, she met André Lhote and Raoul Dufy and expanded her circle of friends to include other artists such as Juan Gris and Albert Gleizes, all of whom were closely associated with Cubism. Her painting thus naturally evolved towards this trend, which led Guillaume Apollinaire to classify her as an Orphist. Close to the avant-garde movements of the early 20^th century, she contributed to their influence in French-speaking Switzerland.

The artist executed this painting the year before her return to Switzerland. This bouquet, whose flowers appear unstructured, is tinged with orphism, recalling the works of Robert Delaunay and Sonia Delaunay. A highly colourful painting, it is a profusion of silver shapes and harmoniously arranged colours that are barely visible against the architectural background. Although it is not easy to distinguish the different kinds of flowers represented, the artist’s main concern is to create a harmony of coloured forms.