The purpose of the Denmark Expedition 1906–1908 was to map the coast of Northern Greenland and the waters around Peary Land. The scientific project was headed by Mylius-Erichsen unquestionably fulfilled contemporary expectations. The group created quite a stir, for instance, by succeeding in mapping the entire North-Eastern coast and its big inlets, including the 200 kilometres deep Denmark Fiord. As a member of this expedition, the painter Aage Bertelsen was expected to create a visual, historical documentation of this sensational project.

Aage Bertelsen made many sketches, studies and paintings during the expedition. Among the main works we find a collection of twelve documentary paintings that were made at the places where the Denmark Expedition came to a halt. Such places could be quite rough. The Bertelsen family tells of the conditions Aage found himself in on the Eastern coast of Greenland when he painted these paintings. It was so cold that his brush strokes could not exceed a length of about three centimetres - otherwise paint, brush and canvas would simply freeze together.