Dufy executed La Martiniquaise in the studio of the impasse Guelma where he moved in 1911 and which was to provide the surrounding for a series of studio portraits.

"While La Martiniquaise attests to Dufy's liking for a certain exoticism, she also contributes to a seductive and decorative composition. This combines the warmth of a range of colour stressing reds, pinks, ochres and yellows, punctuated with white and green, and an ornamental richness which does not weigh down the composition as a whole. The figure remains admirably in the foreground despite the flatness of this composition, counterbalanced by the oblique angles of the folds of the dress and her arms and feet, and by the faint hints of the bed... with a fabric bearing a Bianchini-Férier pattern of arum lilies draped over the walls of the room. Behind the model stands a canvas panel in intense colours, painted in Tournon in 1930 from an initial watercolour design." (D. Perez-Tibi, Dufy, London, 1989, p. 244)