The French romantic artist François-August Biard wasn’t one to stay put. As a young man he traveled through the Mediterranean to Italy and Greece, then on to the Middle East. In 1840, the artist and his wife, Leonie, were invited to join an expedition to Spitsbergen and Lapland, where Biard encountered the wonders of the Arctic world. While there, Biard painted the Sami indigenous population, catching their way of life in fervent brushstrokes. Upon the couple’s return to France, Leonie’s turbulent affair with Victor Hugo commenced, and in 1850 Biard set sail for faraway Brazil. This is the first retrospective exhibition dedicated to Biard, and it takes his portrayals of foreign lands and cultures as its theme. —E.C.