Johan Frederik "Frits" Thaulow was born in Christiania in 1847, the son of a wealthy chemist, Harald Conrad Thaulow, and Nicoline ("Nina") Louise Munch. Thaulow was educated at the Academy of Art in Copenhagen in 1870–1872, and from 1873 until 1875 he studied with Hans Fredrik Gude at the Baden School of Art in Karlsruhe.

     Thaulow was one of the earliest artists to paint in Skagen in the north of Jutland, an area soon to become famous for its Skagen Painters. He arrived there in 1879 with his friend Christian Krohg, who persuaded him to spend the summer and autumn there. Thaulow, who had specialized in marine painting, turned to Skagen's favourite subjects, the fishermen and the boats on the shore.

     After his stay in Skagen, Thaulow returned to Norway in 1880. Many of Thaulow's best known Norwegian scenes are from Åsgårdstrand, which had become an important center for artists and painters dating from the 1880s. He became one of the leading young figures in the Norwegian art scene, together with Christian Krohg and Erik Werenskiold, and he helped establish the first National Art Exhibit (also known as Høstutstillingen or Autumn Exhibit) in 1882. Other positions held by the artist include Chairman of the Artists' Association in Kristiania in 1883 and 1885–1887, Chairman of the Visual Artists Union from 1887–1888, Member Norwegian Committee Norwegian Art Association in Minneapolis 1888, International jury member World Expo in Paris 1889, Norwegian Commissioner for International Affairs in Antwerp 1894, Jury member of the Venice Biennale 1899, and a member of Société Nouvelle de Peintres et de Sculpteurs from 1900 onward.

     Thaulow moved to France in 1892, living there until his death in 1906. He soon discovered that the cityscapes of Paris did not suit him. His best paintings were made in small towns such as Montreuil-sur-Mer  from 1892–1894, Dieppe and surrounding villages from 1894–1898, Quimperle in Brittany during 1901 and Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne in the Corrèze département in 1903. In Dieppe, Thaulow and his wife Alexandra were popular, befriending many including artist Charles Conder, and the English illustrator and author Aubrey Beardsley. He produced approximately 50 paintings per year during his stay in France. Many of these artworks were displayed at Galeries Georges Petit and Cie in Paris.

     Thaulow received a number of honors for his artistic activity, including his appointment as Commander of the 2nd Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1905. He also was named Knight of the French Legion of Honor in 1889 and Officer in 1901, also the Belgian Leopold Order 1894, the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus from Italy, and the Order of Nichan Iftikhar from Tunisia.

     The artist is represented in these public institutions:

• National Museum of Norway

• The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg

• The Metropolitan Museum in New York

• The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston

• Art Institute of Chicago

• Musée d'Orsay in Paris

• Musée du Petit Palais in Paris

• The Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium

• National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

• The Saint Louis Art Museum

• The Philadelphia Museum of Art

• National Gallery of Denmark

• The Walters Art Museum in Maryland

• The Finnish National Gallery

• Gothenburg Art Museum

• Oslo City Museum

• Busch-Reisinger Museum at Harvard University