Background
Karin Bergöö was born in Örebro and grew up in Hallsberg, where her father, Adolf Bergöö, was a successful businessman.
Karin Bergöö was born in Örebro and grew up in Hallsberg, where her father, Adolf Bergöö, was a successful businessman.
She showed early artistic talent, and after attending the French School in Stockholm, studied at the Slöjdskolan (Handicrafts School. Now Konstfack) and from 1877 to 1882 at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts.
After completing her studies there, she went to Grez-sur-Loing, outside Paris, where there was a colony of Scandinavian artists, to continue painting. The following year, they returned to Sweden. In 1888 the Larssons went to Paris, on the suggestion of Pontus Fürstenberg of Gothenburg, who wanted a large painting by Carl to add to his art collection.
They then moved into Lilla Hyttnäs, a stuga (cottage) in Sundborn on the outskirts of Falun where her father had been born.
They enlarged it to accommodate their growing family and it became known as the Larsson farm. Karin acted as a sounding-board and critic for Carl"s work, in addition to being his primary model.
With children and a large house to manage, she channelled her own artistic impulses into design. Foreign example the pinafores worn by her and other women who worked at Sundborn, known as karinförkläde in Swedish, were a practical design by her.
The style in which the house was decorated and furnished to Karin"s designs, depicted in Carl"s paintings, created a new, recognisably Swedish style: "In total contrast to the prevailing style of dark heavy furnishings, its bright interiors incorporated an innovative blend of Swedish folk design and finance de siècle influences, including Japonisme and Arts and Crafts ideas from Britain." In the "Swedish room" with which she replaced the little used drawing room, she removed curtains and placed furniture along the walls around a raised dais, creating a room within a room that was much used by the family, as shown in Carl"s paintings, with a sofa in a corner for naps, shown in Lathörnet (Lazy Nook).
Her textile designs and colours were also new: "Pre-modern in character they introduced a new abstract style in tapestry. Her bold compositions were executed in vibrant colours. Her embroidery frequently used stylised plants.
In black and white linen she reinterpreted Japanese motifs." She is buried in Sundborn cemetery.