Photographer Hans Casparius had already accompanied writer and journalist Richard A. Bermann (alias Arnold Höllriegel) on numerous journeys and taken photos for his reports. In spring 1933, he and Bermann took part in an expedition to the Libyan desert in search of the Zarzura oasis, staged by explorer and Sahara researcher Ladislaus von Almásy.

Among the photographs taken on this journey were images of rock paintings which the expedition discovered in the caves of Uweinat. The film Nomaden der Wüste (Nomads of the Desert), which Casparius shot during the journey, is lost, thought to have been destroyed in a bombing raid on Berlin during the Second World War.

During a break Casparius also captured Richard A. Bermann, who is shown lying on the sandy ground; despite the great physical exertion he appears more relaxed than exhausted. Casparius titled the image “Arnold Höllriegel rests in the sun on a dune (called Barkan)”. The photographic subject himself wanted to be depicted in a “reverie on the dune”, as Bermann’s additional note on the rear of the photograph indicates.