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On 5 June 1937, an exhibition entitled 'Exhibition of Contemporary French Art' opened at the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin. It is no coincidence that this show opened about a month before the 'Degenerate Art' exhibition in Munich. The intention was clearly propaganda: to show French artists that they were still welcome in Nazi Germany - despite the pejorative term 'degenerate', which had been used since 1934 and was also applied to works by French modernists such as the Fauves.

Works by Matisse, Braque, Léger and three paintings by Vlaminck - including this one - were also represented in Berlin. The Vlaminck works on show were all from later years. This was also a deliberate move, as the Fauvist works were in no way in keeping with the National Socialists' understanding of art. The works of other artists were also carefully selected. The Berlin exhibition was conservative and did not include any abstract or avant-garde works.

Vlaminck's 1933 painting Thatched Houses shows a village scene with houses to the right and left, a farmer's wife on the right-hand side of the road and a carriage in the distance. A dynamic brushstroke describes the roofs and field that give the painting its title. The sky is dominated by dark blue and white, and a storm seems to be brewing.