is typical of the work produced by the Skagen Painters; very much in the style of the French Impressionists and Naturalists, it celebrates the play of light in the scene (and in composition and subject draws obvious comparisons to Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party),[3] but at the same time it harks back to the freundschaftbild tradition of artists of the Danish Golden Age such as Ditlev Blunck and Wilhelm Bendz in depicting artistic communities spontaneously drawing together.

[6] The painting was started in 1884 after a party at Michael Ancher's house;[7] the composition was inspired by photographs taken at the celebration by the German artist Fritz Stoltenberg, although the individuals featured are not all the same.

[6] Krøyer returned uninvited to Ancher's house the morning after the gathering with his easel and paints, eager to start sketching and expecting the freedom to come and go as he pleased.

His lack of consideration annoyed Ancher, who had only recently moved to the house in an attempt to escape the hustle and bustle of town life; as a result, the two artists suffered their first serious falling-out.

Helga, Ancher's daughter, who had been less than a year old at the time of the original festivities, is shown to be older in the final painting, suggesting she was not included until later in the composition.

[8] In August 2012, visitors and VisitDenmark staff recreated the painting at full scale out of Lego blocks at the IMAGINATION festival at St Katharine Docks, London, held in conjunction with the 2012 Summer Olympics.