Istvan Csok is among Hungary's most famous painters. After training as an artist in his hometown of Budapest, he went to Munich and Paris to continue his education like many of his contemporary colleagues. At first, he primarily created portraits and scenes of everyday life, through which he gained national and international renown, winning international prizes. After spending seven years in Paris, he returned to Budapest, where he remained the rest of his life and was active as the President of the Academy of Fine Arts.

While his early work can be assigned stylistically to Realism, he developed his own post-Impressionist style throughout the course of his career. In Csok's late phase, from his time back in Hungary he dedicated himself to landscape painting. A painting depicting Lake Balaton was a typical motif for the artist and one he repeatedly took up in the 1920s and 30s. In these works, he sought to capture the different moods of various times of day and weather conditions by combining strong, intense colours with shades of grey, thus creating a truly unique atmosphere.