For the first time a complete picture is presented of the relationship between late 19th-century French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism and Scandinavian art. In a series of essays the ways in which Scandinavian artists adopted the radical new French painting are discussed as well as the interest of private Scandinavian art collectors and museum in French avantgarde art.

Individual essays are devoted to Paul Gaugin's stay in Copenhagen in the mid-1880s and Claude Monet's journey to Norway in the winter of 1895. Among the Scandinavian artists included in the catalogue mention may be made of Edvard Munch, Anders Zorn and Jens Ferdinand Willumsen.