Electromagnetic fields with complex spatial variation routinely arise in Nature. We study the response of a small molecule to monochromatic fields of arbitrary three-dimensional geometry. First, we consider the allowed configurations of the fields and field gradients at a single point in space. Many configurations cannot be generated from a single plane wave, regardless of polarization, but any allowed configuration can be generated by superposition of multiple plane waves. There is no local configuration of the fields and gradients that requires near-field effects. Second, we derive a set of local electromagnetic quantities, each of which couples to a particular multipole transition. These quantities are small or zero in plane waves, but can be large in regions of certain superpositions of plane waves. Our findings provide a systematic framework for designing far-field and near-field experiments to drive multipole transitions. The proposed experiments provide information on molecular structure that is inaccessible to other spectroscopic techniques and open the possibility for new types of optical control of molecules.