Isaac Grünewald grew up in humble circumstances in Södermalm, Stockholm. His family was Jewish with roots in Eastern Europe and had limited resources. Grünewald's artistic talent showed itself early and at the age of 17, in 1905, he began studying at the School of the Artists' Union in Stockholm. However, it was his years as a student of Henri Matisse in Paris, 1908-11, at the Académie Matisse that shaped him most as an artist. Grünewald learned to paint in an expressive and Fauvist style, with a colorful palette and full, contrasting color planes. Together with his fellow artists in the group “The Young”, and later “The Eight”, Grünewald organized three scandalous exhibitions in 1909-1911 in Hallin's art shop. There, this new, expressionist and freer style was introduced to the Swedish art public. Critics and the public were initially rather hesitant and unsympathetic, and Grünewald, who became the most prominent spokesperson for the new style, was described in negative and often anti-Semitic terms in the press.
It is during this exciting period and turning point in the artist's life that the current painting “Nybroviken” was created.