Scotland has long had close cultural allegiances to France and so it was no surprise that its artists travelled to Paris for an education in how to be thoroughly modern. From the Barbizon School, through Manet, to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, the French influence on late 19th century Scottish painting is clear. For the younger generation – Fergusson, Cadell, Peploe & Hunter – it was the high-intensity of the Fauvist palette and the way their works were structured through blocks of independent colours that was most influential – and which led to these four painters later being dubbed the ‘Scottish Colourists’.

Feted for their high voltage landscapes and still-lives, the Colourists also captured the spirit of beau-monde Edinburgh and Glasgow in the early decades of the 20th century.