The present study for the oil painting 'Le perroquet et ses échos' ('Coat-tree and echoes') was completed at Bigeonnette, a studio Hélion took on near Chartres in 1962, along with other key works such as 'Vestiaire de Bigeonnette' ('Cloakroom at Bigeonnette'), and 'Perroquet bleu' ('Blue coat-tree') . In his journal he discussed the coat-tree and its relation to the figure: "The coat-tree, the old clothes and the shadow, second attempt - 'Le perroquet et ses échos'. I know that, on a vertical wall, the shadow of a coat-tree is also vertical. Yet, irresistibly, it becomes oblique. The shadow is a being related to the figure, but it emancipates itself, though in the direction of that being." 'Journal d'un peintre', vol. II, 15th May 1975, p. 179.

'Perroquet au miroir' is dripping with the Surrealist motifs that preoccupied Hélion for his entire oeuvre: the coat, hats, shoes and umbrellas, in their meeting on a coat stand, produce the perfect outline of a figure.

The oil painting 'Le perroquet et ses échos', 1975, for which the present painting is a study, forms part of the collection of the Musée d'Art Moderne de St-Etienne. The work is illustrated in H.C. Cousseau, ‘Hélion’, Editions du regard, Paris, 1992, p. 259.