Nordic Painting: The Rise of Modernity kokoaa yksiin kansiin modernin pohjoismaisen taiteen merkittävimpiä tyylisuuntia ja teoksia ja luo samalla kiinnostavaa kulttuurihistoriallista ajankuvaa koko Skandinaviasta. Teemoittain jaotellut, runsaiden teoskuvitusten rytmittämät luvut tarjoavat kukin yhden erilaisen näkökulman pohjoismaiseen taiteeseen aina 1800-luvulta tähän päivään. Englanninkielisen kirjan ovat kirjoittaneet moderniin pohjoismaiseen taiteeseen erikoistuneet taidehistorioitsijat Katharina Alsen ja Annika Landmann, ja sen on kustantanut taidekustantamo Prestel.

Delightful landscapes, idyllic genre scenes, light-flooded interiors, and atmospheric portraits: this richly illustrated book introduces the most important stylistic directions, artists, and works of Nordic painting. Concentrating on the period of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it centers on Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Iceland, but also considers the equally interesting Nordic regions of the Faroes, Greenland, and the German-Danish borderland.

The authors Katharina Alsen and Annika Landmann investigate important pictorial subjects such as landscapes, interiors, urban motifs, and abstraction on the basis of significant works by artists like Edvard Munch, Vilhelm Hammershøi, Helene Schjerfbeck, Jóhannes S. Kjarval, and Sigrid Hjertén.

Drawing from the most recent research, this extensive monograph addresses itself to various issues, including the interaction between Nordic and Central European artists and the development of modernism in Nordic art. At the same time, it opens up new perspectives on the present: a consideration of the works of contemporary artists such as Ragnar Kjartansson and Olafur Eliasson, which make both thematic and formal reference to the previous century, elucidates the enduring significance of Nordic art even today.