Oppenheimer's house was at 14 High Street, Kirkcudbright, where he lived between 1908 and 1931. He rented the house from E.A. Hornel, who lived next door in Broughton House (now in the care of the National Trust for Scotland). By the time Oppenheimer settled there, Kirkcudbright had long been a centre of artistic activity. Artists had been drawn there since the 1880s, and by 1900 the little town was attracting artists from Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The artist painted the back of his house and garden several times which is where this lily pond is to be found. He was a keen fisherman and his depiction of water and light falling on it are particularly well observed.

From 1929 the crime writer Dorothy L. Sayers and her husband also rented a studio in The High Street, next door to Oppenheimer, and became good friends.