This text is an adaptation of Honoré de Balzac's 'The Unknown Masterpiece', initially published in 1831, and containing one of the earliest known literary descriptions of an abstract painting. The characters reverberated strongly with Paul Cézanne, Willem de Kooning and Pablo Picasso, who subsequently illustrated a re-issue of Le Chef-d'oeuvre inconnu as it was originally titled in French. The story takes place in 17th century Paris at an artist's studio on the Rue des Grands Augustins. It is worth noting that Picasso later rented the flat at No. 7 Rue des Grands Augustins, the same address of the studio mentioned in the story, and where he painted his own masterpiece, Guernica, exactly one hundred years after the final version of Balzac's tale had been published.