Sigrid Hjertén and Isaac Grünewald led dramatic lives but suffered from prejudice: Sigrid for being a woman-artist; Isaac for being Jewish. And yet, the couple managed to change Swedish art at the beginning of the 20th century.

In 1909 the two artists went to Paris to attend Henri Matisse's school of painting. Two years later when they returned to Stockholm, they opened a window to international trends in art and brought modernism back with them to Sweden. They broke with the naturalist tradition and introduced a style of painting with expressive lines, balance and rhythm. The most important aspect, however, was colour.

This was not easy to accomplish. Their art was deemed highly provocative, decadent and infantile, they themselves were attacked. Sigrid became mentally ill, and the couple separated in 1937.

Director Anders Wahlgren had access to a unique collection of letters, photos, film footage, police records and newspaper articles, and reenacted scenes from the couple's life using two actors. The result is a captivating portrait of the two artists that was an unexpected box-office success in Sweden

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