The work in the auction bears the somewhat mysterious title "Amoureuse Posthume Bataille" and belongs to the body of Surrealist works Grate produced in the early 1930s.

After travelling in Greece, Italy and Germany, Grate settled in Paris in 1924, remaining there until 1933 apart from a few periods in Stockholm. During his time in Paris, he came into contact with several of the leading writers and artists of the Surrealist movement, including André Breton, Max Ernst, Miró, Arp, Yves Tanguy and Tristan Tzara, among others. Their work had a strong influence on Grate, which is clearly evident in the present work. Yet, perhaps to an even greater extent than these artists, he drew forms and expressions from nature. Close studies of seeds, bone fragments, insects and marine animals—not least their more sensual forms—became recurring elements in both his sculpture and works on paper.

In 1932, at the suggestion of Ragnar Hoppe, Eric Grate organised an exhibition at Nationalmuseum in Stockholm featuring the Surrealist and post-Cubist artists in Paris with whom he was well acquainted. He selected 24 artists, who together presented more than 150 works. The exhibitors included Arp, Braque, Ernst, Klee, Miro, Di Chirico, Kandinsky, Chagall, Picasso and Grate himself, who contributed no fewer than 15 works. The exhibition was entitled “PARIS 1932 – 10 NATIONS 24 ARTISTS” and opened on 14 October 1932—the same date as that given on the present work.