Tàpies lived in Paris between 1950 and 1951, where he extended his interests to surrealism, the new avant-garde art movement started with friends from Dau al Set a few years before. The works from this period combine a realistic representation with a surreal character, marked by references to Ernst, Klee and Miró. In Dona en blau (Woman with blue), the contrast in the light, the surreal atmosphere, the symbols and the gratagge technique are in some ways an example of the informalism to come.