Friends is a marvellous example of painting from Fechin's Taos period. The painting simultaneously captures Fechin's mastery as a colourist and conveys an intimate glimpse into the Taos region's Native American life. Fechin had first accepted an invitation to visit Taos from his friend and fellow portrait
painter, John Young-Hunter. Fechin flourished in the bright light and intense colour of the region. He often applied paint to the canvas with broad strokes of a palette knife. Fechin would even, on occasion, discard his tools and use his thumb to re-work the finer qualities of his sitter's expression and moods. He worked quickly to capture a sincere and direct likeness from his sitter, often working so vigorously that his subjects would become apprehensive as he attacked the canvas surface.
Fechin's portraits of children are particularly confident and child portraits constitute an important body of his later work. Friends well illustrates Fechin's ability to translate onto canvas a profoundly moving image of a child and her visible love for the dog which rests peacefully on her lap.

Fechin's biographer Mary N. Balcomb writes "The work from Taos is exceptional. The portraits are acutely psychological, compassionate, penetrating studies of character, scrutinizing the soul of man...Fechin's Taos portraits are masterfully executed, timeless. Each is a highly individualized study, yet possessing a generalization or universal quality which evokes memories and associations that relate to all people everywhere" (Nikolai Fechin, pp. 74, 78).