'View from a Tent' was painted during a trip Maxwell made to the Highlands with William Gillies, a fellow teacher at Edinburgh College of Art. Maxwell has depicted the sands of Morar, on the west coast of Scotland, glimpsed from the inside of the tent. Maxwell later said that trips with Gillies were a mixed blessing, for although he enjoyed the latter's company, he was intimidated by the speed at which his colleague worked. Gillies could finish half a dozen watercolours before he had even selected a motif.