Le cercle de grande réserve is from Gaucher’s diamond-shaped Square Dances (Danses carrées) series of 1965, his first important paintings to emerge from the In Homage to Webern prints. The compositions may be symmetrical—on either one or both axes—but the kinetic colour activity sets them in rapid motion as if they were echoing the steps and movements of the square dances that they are named after.

Gaucher applied his paint with a roller, using masking tape to keep the edges straight and crisp. The Square Dances were the closest that Gaucher came to making optical art.