Léger later claimed to have only $27 in his pocket when he arrived in New York on October, 1940, and soon after agreed to paint a portrait commissioned by Maud Chester Dale. Known as Portrait de Madame D., it was completed in 1945. "The manner in which he perceived the problem, the probity and effort put into the preparatory work, reveal much about his integrity... the scores of drawings he made for it provide what is perhaps the best documentation on Léger's working methods." (P. de Francia, Fernand Léger, New Haven and London, 1983, p. 126)