Meyer Straus journeyed through life with enduring wanderlust, emigrating in 1848 from Germany to the United States, where he moved from Ohio to St. Louis, Missouri, to Mobile, Alabama, to New Orleans to Chicago, Illinois, where brutal winters and failing health prompted a move to San Francisco. Accomplished and prolific, Straus was employed to paint scenery for leading city theaters throughout his career: the Old Pine Street Theater (St. Louis), Hooley Theater (Chicago), and the Bush Street Theater and Grand Opera House (San Francisco). However, while in Louisiana he painted masterful oil landscapes, such as Moonlight on the Bayou and Louisiana Swamp.