In his representation of the glowing northern lights, or the aurora borealis, Sydney Laurence diffuses yellows, pinks, greens, and blues to emulate a fading night sky. Here a tiny illuminated cabin in the deep distance and the reflection of light on the meandering stream are balanced by low-lying stars and bright, colorful wisps of northern light that dance across the night sky. Occurring most frequently around the equinoxes, the aurora borealis was named after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and Boreas, the Greek name for the north wind.

Born in Brooklyn, Laurence studied art as a young man in New York and Europe. In his late twenties the artist spent time in Cornwall, England at the famous art colony, St. Ives, and exhibited with the Royal Society of British Artists in the early 1890s, at the Paris Salon (1890, 1894, 1895), and at London’s Royal Academy (1890–1902). After a brief stint as a foreign correspondent in Africa, Laurence settled in Alaska in 1904, living there until his death in 1940.