According to Henry Adams, these watercolors date from 1912-1917. Unfortunately, Benton's early work is not very well documented and there are two possible explanations for the date. The first, is that the watercolors were painted in 1912 upon Benton's arrival in New York. Benton at this time, partly under the influence of Samuel Halpert, was making direct copies of the work of Cezanne and was painting his own landscapes with strong Cezannesque qualities.

The other possibility is that these works were done circa 1917. At this time, Benton was doing work for the movie studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Although he had some critical success at the time, he was still struggling financially and needed the income from the studio work. He was, however, painting landscapes on the weekends along the Palisades of the Hudson River with his friend Pop Hart.

Regardless, these watercolors mark one of Benton's continuing investigations with abstraction. While he continued to paint realistically all through his career, he seemed particularly satisfied with these early experiments in abstract painting.