Carl Larsson, Illustration for celebration.
Sign. With dedication poem. Watercolour 59x46 cm.
Fold. Stains. Slightly buckled paper. Not examined out of frame.
According to given information the work was a gift from the artist to his neighbor Lovisa Linderdahl. A relative to Linderdahl brought it to Finland, where it was put up for sale at Galerie Strindberg in Helsinki. The work was purchased in the 1915s by Carin Kraemer, who worked as an accountant at Strindberg. Thence by descent to the present owner.
According to given information Lovisa Linderdahl is the woman carrying a child on her back. The man in the uniform is probably Pontus Linderdahl. On top is Karin Larsson.
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.
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