Ortiz de Elgea, one of the most renowned artists of the , is known for his experimentation and the ongoing evolution of his style. Though grounded in Expressionism, his painting straddles the boundary between abstraction and figuration. Though firmly rooted in landscape, his production went through various different periods, being enriched by his successive engagements with various avant-garde movements that converged in his practice to create a totally personal and non-conformist style in constant evolution and change.

This work evinces the shift his practice underwent in the early 1970s when the figure, at the very core of his immediately previous phase, gradually vanishes away and cedes the main role to the language of painting itself: the interaction of colours, the organisation of the forms and their compositional interrelations. This change received widespread acclaim in 1975, when the artist presented his second exhibition at Galería Kreisler Dos in Madrid.

In turn, the space in this piece is roughly divided horizontally into two large areas of colour, presided by a dark earthy colour on the top and an ochre on the bottom. Above them we see other areas of various colours, cut out against the background which shows through in some parts. While maintaining some touches of the bright colours, as yellows and blues, from his previous period, the artist now incorporates earthy tones, greys and blacks, colours which are “subdued and more inward-looking” and connect him with the earth and landscape, the source of almost all his painting: “nature is always teaching me to paint” in his own words.