Johnson arrived in Paris, France in the fall of 1927. He spent a year in Paris, and had his first solo exhibition at the Students and Artists Club in November 1927. Johnson saw Lithuanian-born painter Chaim Soutine's first major exhibition in 1927. He was immediately drawn to Soutine's wild, gestural expressionist work and began to absorb his style. Johnson painted several contorted street scenes in Cagnes-sur-Mer, an artists’ colony on the French Riviera where Soutine had worked for several years. Studying Soutine’s style helped Johnson release his own emotional reactions to his surroundings. He wrote, “I am not afraid to exaggerate a contour, a form, or anything that gives more character and movement to the canvas.” Jonson was in Cagnes-Sur-Mer for a year before returning to New York in 1929.

There are other paintings from this series in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the Smithsonian American Art Museum among others.