Surrounded by his drying canvases, he would ask a young nude female model to remain with him in the studio, not necessarily to paint her in a
particular pose as Matisse or Bonnard might have done (he was wary of the anecdotal side of a pose and tried to avoid it as much as he could), but for a sheer physical presence next to him while he was painting, and for its influence on his perception of his
subject.