Schueler first visited Scotland in 1957, setting up a studio near Mallaig on the Sound of Sleat in the north-west Highlands. The landscape of the area, particularly the dramatic, shifting skies made a deep impression on the artist. He explained that, ‘I studied the Mallaig sky so intently, and I found in its convulsive movement and change and drama such a concentration of activity that it became all skies and even the idea of all nature to me.’ Schueler made this painting in Arceuil, on the outskirts of Paris, the following year. It has a spiritual dimension, in its suggestion of the power of the sun to transform landscape and sky, shining brightly through a dramatically coloured sweep of cloud. The centrality of nature to Schueler’s artistic vision shows the influence of JMW Turner.