John Bratby painted this composition in the summer of 1954 soon after he graduated from the Royal College of Art, London. He was staying at his wife's father's house in Greenwich and had a studio on the top floor. The art critic David Sylvester coined the term ‘kitchen sink’ for such domestic interiors which was also applied to the work by Derrick Greaves, Edward Middleditch, Jack Smith and Peter Coker.