Gustave Courbet created around twenty self-portraits, painted in the first part of his career, between 1842 and 1855. For the artist, these images were an opportunity to present himself to the world. In this painting, he portrays himself in the company of a young woman, thought to be Virginie Binet, his partner at the time, with whom he would have a son three years later. The title was given to the artwork by the artist himself when he presented it in 1855 at a private exhibition organised in parallel with the World Fair in Paris.

The pose of the two figures appears strange at first: their bodies are pressed against one another, yet their faces are moving apart. The detail of the couple's intertwined hands confirms that they have in fact been painted dancing the waltz, which was very popular at the time. The originality of this work resides in the way it is framed with the faces as the focal point, rendering the landscape almost invisible. This led to it being misunderstood by the audience, and it was therefore dismissed by the jury at the Paris Salon of 1846.