In this drawing Daniel Vázquez Díaz depicted himself as a successful and renowned painter. In 1957 he had held the exhibition Hombres de mi tiempo [Men of My Time] at the Instituto de Cultura Hispánica [Hispanic Culture Institute], displaying his portraits of Spanish cultural figures. Shortly after, the Ateneo de Madrid [Madrid Athenaeum] hosted a monographic exhibition of his work, followed by another retrospective exhibition at the Casa de Cultura de Santander [Santader House of Culture]. At the same time his collaborations with the newspaper ABC had made him very popular.

During the 1950s and ‘60s most of the photographs of Vázquez Díaz in his studio, or with his friends, depict him wearing a black beret like the one in the drawing. Vázquez Díaz delved into the psychological aspects of portraiture. In 1962, when asked if he preferred landscapes or portraits he responded: “Perhaps I prefer the portrait, but when I am in the countryside I am so happy that I cannot be anything else but a landscape artist. Painting a landscape is easy for anyone with sensitivity. A portrait requires much more… My landscapes are instants; the portraits, meditations.”