Carl Larsson

Originally in the collections of Consul General Axel Lagrelius (acquired directly from the artist in 1913); private collection; Bukowski Auktioner AB, Stockholm, Sale 580, "Vårens Klassiska", 2-5 June 2014, lot 564; private collection.

Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung, Berlin, April 1912 (under the title "Grolle nicht!"); Helsinki and Turku, 1913, no. 31; Baltiska utställningen, Malmö, Sweden, 15 May - 4 October 1914, no. 80 (under the title "Var god och glad"); Liljevalchs konsthall (Liljevalchs Public Art Gallery), Stockholm, "Invigningsutställning. Larsson-Liljefors-Zorn", March-April 1916, no. 86 (under the title "Esbjörn led").

Ernst Malmberg, "Larsson-Liljefors-Zorn. En återblick", 1919, mentioned pp. 35-36 and illustrated full page; Ulwa Neergaard, "Carl Larsson. Signerat med pensel och penna", 1999, listed in the catalogue under year 1911, p. 136, no. 1436.

Carl Larsson is considered one of the greatest Swedish artists of all time. He was born in Gamla Stan in Stockholm and studied at the Royal Academy of Arts in the years 1866-76. After his studies in Stockholm, he traveled to France and settled in Grèz-sur-Loing. There he mainly painted garden motifs. In France, he met his future wife Karin Bergöö, who was also an artist and came to mean a lot for his artistry. Already during his student years, he made a living as a photo retoucher and cartoonist in the press. It was also during his studies that Larsson got to know Anders Zorn and Bruno Liljefors, together the three are usually called the ABC artists. At the end of the 1880s, Carl and Karin were given "Lilla Hyttnäs" in Sundborn outside Falun by Karin's father, and this is where Larsson's most famous watercolors depicting his family were created. The motifs often depict sunny landscapes with children, crayfish fishing, meals in the green and interior scenes. Larsson is represented, among other, in the National Museum, where "Gustav Vasas intåg i Stockholm" and "Midvinterblot" fills the stairwell. Represented mainly at the National Museum in Stockholm and at the Gothenburg Art Museum.