The present painting is a study for the painting entitled ”Nordlys 14. januar 1901, kl. 22.15. Utsjoki. Mod vest-nordvest” (Aurora borealis January 14th 1901, 22.15 hours. Utsjoki. Towards West-Northwest) in the collection of the National Gallery of Denmark (Inv. No. KMS9081).

Harald Moltke participated in several expeditions as an illustration painter. In the winter of 1900–1901, he took part in an aurora borealis expedition, sent by the Meteorological Institute, to Utsjoki in Lapland, Finland, and the present painting originates from here. The expedition leader was physicist and meteorologist Dan Barfod la Cour (1876–1942), and the other participants were Carl Edvard Thune Middelboe (1875–1924) and Johannes K. Kofoed (1877–1939).

During the stay in Utsjoki, thorough measurements and records of the northern lights observations were made by the expedition team, and Moltke painted several paintings that carefully depicted the observed northern lights. Through both Moltke's paintings and la Cour's diary notes, one can thus follow the movement of the northern lights across the sky. La Cour notes i.a. in his diary on 14–1-1901, the evening for the present painting, at 22:45: “When the phenomenon was at its strongest [at 22:15], the clouds showed very dark against the sky illuminated by the aurora borealis. The shape of the clouds changed quite fast while the bulk of clouds appeared to be stationary, as if the clouds were generated in the same location all the time. The phenomenon was most magnificent due to the strong contrasts.” (quoted from Peter Stauning, “Harald Moltke - Nordlysets maler” (Painter of Aurora borealis), 2011, p. 148).