Dawn arrives in the desert all at once. The sun lifts over the horizon on the left, a small bright disc, and its light pours sideways across the sand, turning the great dune behind the oasis from grey to rose to gold in a matter of minutes.
The dune rises like a mountain in the middle of the picture, smooth and sculpted, one face glowing in rose and apricot, the other falling into soft lavender shadow. Its crest is a single sharp line against the pale blue sky. It is enormous and silent, and next to it the oasis looks small and precious.
At its foot, a grove of date palms gathers around a spring. Their trunks lean in every direction and their fronds burst open in dark, feathered green. Below them the water lies perfectly still, a deep teal mirror that holds the palms, the dune and the pale dawn sky upside down. Among the trees on the right stands a small mud-brick tower, square and sturdy, its few windows dark.
In the lower right, three camels rest at the water's edge, folded comfortably on the sand. They have drunk their fill and are in no hurry to leave. Their warm brown coats echo the colour of the earth, and their long necks curve toward one another as if in quiet conversation.
The painting is made in a Post-Impressionist manner reminiscent of Cézanne, with forms built from small, faceted brushstrokes laid in planes of colour. The dune is constructed from interlocking patches of rose, peach and lilac, the palms from short directional strokes of green and teal. It gives the scene a solid, almost architectural calm, as if the morning itself had been carefully assembled.