In 1955, the film The Mystery of Picasso (directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot) was filmed in Nice in the south of France. Near the end of the film, Picasso paints this picture in front of the camera. Its extreme horizontal elongation takes the movie screen’s aspect ratio into account. In the film, this work evolves from start to completion at an astounding speed, and close examination reveals raw vestiges of action such as rough repainting, rips in the canvas, and pin holes. The eternally shifting nature of the picture may have been the result of directorial intent (on the part of the director, or the painter?) to convey the mysteries of genius through images that are improvised, or emerge one after another like revelations.