Bisttram first visited Taos during the summer of 1930. He went initially to escape the hardship of life in New York following the stock market crash. His first visit, however, was nearly his last. While enthralled by the beauty of New Mexico, Bisttram was endlessly frustrated by his first attempts at painting there: “Whenever I tried to paint what was before me I was frustrated by the grandeur of the scenery and the limitless space. Above all a strange, almost mystic quality of light.” (https://www.addisonrowe.com/gallery-artists/bisttram-emil/nggallery/page/3)