This piece depicts the famous La Ruche des Arts, a building located on the Passage de Dantzig in Paris. In the 1910s, along with Nathan Altman, a number of artists lived there, including Marc Chagall, Chaim Soutine, Amedeo Modigliani, and Alexander Archipenko.
The painting was exhibited in 1916 in Moscow at the Knave of Diamonds exhibition (No. 9, under the title La Ruche. Paris) near Chagall’s works.

Altman Nathan

Altman, Nathan Isayevich (1889, Vinnitsa - 1970, Leningrad)
Painter, graphic artist, sculptor, book, theatrical and cinema designer. Studied under Kiriak Kostandi and Gennady Ladyzhensky at the Odessa School of Art (1903-07) and at the Maria Vasilyeva Free Russian Academy in Paris (1910-11). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1906). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Fellowship of South Russian Artists (1910), Union of Youth (1913-14), World of Art (1913, 1915, 1916) and the Jewish Society for the Encouragement of Artists (1915-19; founding member). Taught at Mikhail Bernstein's studio (1915-16) and the State Free Art Studios in Petrograd (1918-20). Member of Department of An, People's Commissariat of Education (1918-21). Research assistant of the Institute of Artistic Culture (1923). Designed for theatres. Honoured Artist of the Russian Soviet Federater Socialist Republic (1968).