In the late 1870s Krøyer studied in Paris under Léon Bonnat and became influenced by the naturalist plein-air school of painting, especially by its emphasis on colour and light. In 1882 Krøyer visited Skagen for the first time and found this desert between two seas an ideal place to study the qualities of colour and light. Besides his great interest in and ability to paint sand, water and the outdoor atmosphere Krøyer also was a brilliant painter of figures. He often painted himself, his wife Marie or local women and fishermen walking or sitting on the beach. When children were his theme, he usually painted them naked and bathing like the children seen in the background of this painting. Not very often are they just sitting like in this piece. Maybe these two boys on summer holiday from Copenhagen are watching the local fishermen leaving or returning from fishing?