The Musée d'Orsay's exhibition devoted to Norwegian artist Christian Krohg is the artist's first-ever retrospective outside Scandinavia. Along with the younger Edvard Munch, whose mentor he was, and the playwright Henrik Ibsen, he is the third great cultural figure of turn-of-the century Norway.

An ardent defender of the political and social causes of his day, Krohg, who was also a writer and journalist, depicted the Scandinavian people’s condition with profound empathy: the world of work, poverty, and the injustices of 19th century Norwegian society. A member of the provocative bohemian scene in Kristiania (Oslo), whose members he frequently portrayed, Krohg caused controversy and scandal among the bourgeoisie and artistic elites of the capital.

The exhibition highlights Krohg’s pictorial connections with the French artists he got to know during his stays in Paris - including Courbet, Manet and the impressionists. Krohg sought to give his works a feeling of immediacy by using asymmetrical compositions, audacious framings and dynamic poses. His motto, “It’s all a question of framing”, was the basis for artistic research of unflinching modernity.