Background
Carl Larsson was born on May 28, 1853 in Stockholm, Sweden. His parents were extremely poor, and his childhood was not happy. Larsson's father worked as a casual laborer and his mother worked as a laundress.
His wife, Karin Bergöö Larsson, photographed around 1882
His wife with their first child, Suzanne.
Carl Larsson was born on May 28, 1853 in Stockholm, Sweden. His parents were extremely poor, and his childhood was not happy. Larsson's father worked as a casual laborer and his mother worked as a laundress.
At the age of thirteen, Larsson's teacher Jacobsen at the school for poor children urged him to apply to the "principskola" of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts, and he was admitted. In 1869, at the age of sixteen, Larsson was promoted to the "antique school" of the same academy.
Larsson worked as a caricaturist for the humorous paper "Kasper" and as a graphic artist for the newspaper "Ny Illustrerad Tidning". His annual wages were sufficient to allow him to help support his parents financially.
After several years working as an illustrator of books, magazines, and newspapers, Larsson moved to Paris in 1877, where he spent several years as a hardworking artist without any success.
After spending two summers in Barbizon, France, the refuge of the plein-air painters, he settled down with his Swedish painter colleagues in 1882 in Grez-sur-Loing, at a Scandinavian artists' colony outside Paris. In Grez, Larsson painted some of his most important works, now in watercolour and very different from the oil painting technique he had previously employed.
In his later years he suffered from bouts of depression. While working on a large decoration for the vestibule of the Nationalmuseum, Midvinterblot, Larsson experienced the onset of an eye problem and a worsening of his frequent headaches. After suffering a mild stroke in January 1919, he spent his remaining time completing his memoirs. He died on January 2, 1919 in Falun, Sweden.
My Loved Ones
Summer Morning, published in 'Lasst Licht Hinin' ('Let in More Light')
In the Corner
Los deberes
A Day of Celebration
Otoсo
The first Lesson
A Late-Riser's Miserable Breakfast
Karin and Kersti
Convalescence
Lisbeth at the birch grove
Cosy Corner
The Studio
Lille Matts Larsson
Karin reading
Esbjorn
Karin and Brita
In the Kitchen Garden
Peasant Interior in winter
Around the Lamp at Evening
Ulf and Pontus
By the Cellar
Required Reading
Interior of the gallery Furstengerg in Gooteborg
Self-Recognition
Interior with a Cactus
In Sundborn Church
Karin and Brita with cactus
Mother and Daughter
Karin in Autumn
Playing Scales
Harvesting ice
Sunday Rest
Children of the carpenter Helberg
When the Children have Gone to Bed
Hakon, Daga and Edgar
Karin on the shore
The Apple Harvest
Mammas and the small girls
Flowers on the windowsill
Lisbeth
Old Anna
Suzanne
For Karin's name day
Breakfast under the Big Birch
Selma Lagerlöf
Roses De Noel
Old Sundborn Church
Mrs Dora Lamm and Her Two Eldest Sons
The manure pile
Woodcutters in the forest
El estanue de watercolor
Clair obscur
Self-portrait
Self-portrait
Christmas Morning
The stable
Azalea
Model Writing Postcards
A studio idyll. The artist's wife with daughter Suzanne
Anna Pettersson
In the Carpenter Shop
A Lady Reading a Newspaper
At Church
The Cottage
A Fairy Or Kersti And A View Of A Meadow
Garden in Grez
Self Portrait in the Studio
Between Christmas and New Aсo
The Skier
Plowing
Under the Birches
The Model On The Table
October (The Pumpkins)
Threshing
Brita's Forty Winks
My Acid Workshop (Where I do my Etching)
Getting Ready for a Game
The Verandah
Lisbeth reading
The Entry of King Gustav Vasa of Sweden into Stockholm, 1523
Self-portrait
Brita and me
An Interior with a Woman Reading
Brita at the Piano
Peek-a-Boo
Esbjorn Doing His Homework
Lisbeth in 'Blue bird'
Abuelo with Esborjn
The Old Man and the New Trees
The Crayfish Season Opens
The Day Before Christmas
Portrait of Alma
The Still Life Painter
Daddy's Room
Solrosorna
On the Farm
Detail Of Christmas Eve
Lazy Nook
The bridge
View of Montcourt
Cowgirl in the meadow
November
Brita as Iduna (Iðunn), lithography, title page for the christmas edition of Idun, 1901
The Kitchen
A Young Girl with a Doll
Breakfast in the Open
August Strindberg
Correspondence
The Studio
The Yard and Wash-House
My mother
My friends, the Carpenter and the Painter
Before the mirror
Fishing
Lisbeth fishing
Portrait of Gothilda Furstenberg
He was a representative of the Arts and Crafts movement.
During his first years at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts, Larsson felt socially inferior, confused, and shy. But after being promoted to the "antique school" of the same academy, he gained confidence, and even became a central figure in student life.
Larsson's wife was Karin (Bergöö) Larsson, an artist and interior designer. Carl and Karin had eight children (Suzanne, Ulf, Pontus, Lisbeth, Brita, Mats, Kersti and Esbjörn), and his family became Larsson's favourite models.