Carl Larsson

Born in Stockholm on May 28, 1853, Carl Larsson became one of Sweden’s most beloved artists. He studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts and first worked in oils, but he found his most distinctive voice in watercolor, especially in scenes drawn from home and family life.

A stay in the artists’ colony at Grez-sur-Loing in France was a turning point. There he met the painter Karin Bergöö, who became his wife and an important creative partner. Together they shaped the house at Sundborn that appears throughout his art, and the pictures he made of their family helped define the image many readers still have of Swedish domestic life.

Larsson also worked on major decorative projects, including murals for the National Museum in Stockholm, and he published illustrated books that spread his work to a wide audience. He died on January 22, 1919, but his images of everyday life, art, and home remain some of the most recognizable in Scandinavian culture.