In 1883, when the Norwegian art historian Andreas Aubert first laid eyes on Harriet Backer’s painting Blue Interior, he was elated. “Every atom is color,” he exclaimed. Portraying women in their natural settings in intense, voluptuous hues, Backer made a study of light and color. By the time of her death, in 1932, she had become one of the country’s most significant artists. Backer won mention by the jury at the Paris Salon, lived between Paris and Munich, and got the better of many male peers. This exhibition—which travels to Stockholm, then to the Musée d’Orsay, in Paris, and then to Kode, in Bergen—focuses on Backer’s life and artistic development. —Elena Clavarino