Gris began to prepare gouaches to accompany Au Soleil du plafond in 1915 under the direction of his dealer Léonce Rosenberg. It was intended that he should produce 20 illustrations, but the artist died in 1927 having made only half of these. The project was only completed by Tériade in 1955, the lithographs being printed by Mourlot.

The lithographs are well balanced by the large manuscript writing of the poet Pierre Reverdy (1889-1960). Gris' art shares many points of reference with Reverdy, who had a great affinity with cubism. Their work depends on a fusion of objects and the multiple meanings of words. In Reverdy's modernist poems there is a continuous conflation of objects, as flat entities or as presences in a dramatic interaction. Reverdy was much concerned with surfaces and what lay behind them, 'the mystery of doors' and the unveiling potential of windows.