Carl Larsson

Carl Larsson was a Swedish artist, painter and illustrator. He studied art at the Academy of Fine Arts 1866-76, then active in France 1877-78 and 1880-85 and teacher at Valand's Art School in Gothenburg 1886-88 and 1891-93. Already during the academic years, Larsson supported himself as a photo retoucher and as a cartoonist in the press mainly for a new illustrated newspaper. He was recognized early for his illustrations for Nordic literature from H.C. Andersen. In Grez-sur-Loing at a Scandinavian artists' colony outside Paris he met Karin Bergöö who soon became his wife. Carl Larsson considered his monumental works, such as his frescos in schools, museums and other public buildings, to be his most important works. His last monumental work, Midvinterblot (Midwinter Sacrifice), a 6-by-14-metre (20 ft × 46 ft) oil painting completed in 1915, had been commissioned for a wall in the National Museum in Stockholm.