Gertler began this bold, experimental still life of daffodils in May 1916, during a period of respite away from his major canvas, Merry-Go-Round, in an effort to relieve his 'penniless' state by painting "some small saleable things". After an uncertain start, he wrote to fellow artist Richard Carline that he had "got really interested in it, which means, probably, that it will be too good to sell!" Though keen to try "new notions for colour", he longed to get back to "my Merry-Go-Round". Roger Fry included this painting in his New Movement in Art exhibition in Birmingham, then the Mansard Gallery at Heal's, London, in 1917.