Carl Larsson was born on May 28, 1853 in the Gamia Stan neighborhood of Stockholm, Sweden. His parents were extremely poor, and his childhood was not happy.
According to Renate Puvogel, in the biography she authored in 1994 Larsson, “His mother was thrown out of the house, together with Carl and his brother, Johna. After enduring a series of temporary dwellings, the family move to present-day Ostermalm. As a rule, each room was home to three families.”
In his autobiographical novel, Jag, Larsson wrote, “Penury, filth, and vice thrived there, leisurely seethed and smoldered, eating away rotten bodies and souls. Such an environment is the natural breeding ground for cholera.”
According to Wikipedia.org, Larsson described his father as a loveless man lacking in self-control. He drank, ranted and raved, and incurred a lifelong anger of his son. After an outburst, he once declared to Larsson, “I curse the day you were born.”
Larsson’s mother stood in sharp contrast to his father. She worked long hours as a laundress to provide for her family. They frequently had little or nothing to eat, and their neighbors were prostitutes, murderers and thieves. (owlcation.com).
At Poor School, Carl Larsson stood out, despite his terrible circumstances. One of his teachers spotted Carl’s talent and helped him get a place at the art academy in Stockholm. He worked for commissions as a cartoonist and illustrator, and was soon able to financially help his family.
According to Owlcation.com, “By 1879, Carl was ready to settle down, and around this time, he met his wife, artist Karin Bergoo, whom he married in 1883. They were very happy together, and it is for his pictures of family life that Larsson is now best remembered. Karen gave birth to eight children, although one was to die as a tiny baby, and their son Ulf tragically died at the young age of 18.
The Bergoo family gave the young couple a house called Lilla Hyttnas at Sundborn in Sweden as a gift in 1888, and the little house features in many of Larsson’s paintings. Karin and the children were Carl’s favorite models.
Larsson became one of Sweden’s most well-loved artists. He developed a successful career both as an artist and illustrator, providing a comfortable life for his family
Larsson became known as a painter of family life and a painter of light. He has a light, joyful style—featuring the common happy moments of family life and the idyllic country life. According to allaboutheaven.org, Larsson surrounded his home with masses of flowers of all sorts jumbled up, informal beds, simple gravel path—as near to nature as one could get while adding the beauty that flowers and bushes can bring. He demonstrated, very effectively, that you do not need to travel the world—or constantly search for happiness. It is at home. There are no paintings of Larsson’s showing people eating alone. It is always a family affair. They eat at round wonderfully stacked tables at Christmas, under trees in the summer, and sometimes the family takes picnics and eats in the fields and meadows surrounding the house.
Larsson held to Christian beliefs—but also found the myths and sagas of Sweden to be fascinating.
He died in January 1919. Lilla Hyttnas, today, is a museum and a tourist destination.
What I find fascinating about Larsson is the contrast of the life he had when he was a child—and the life he created with his wife—and shared with the world—through his paintings. The joy of children. The beauty of family. The wonders of simple nature. And always, the light pouring through.
Little is known of his religious beliefs, but somehow I believe there is a major piece of his biography that is missing. His is a life redeemed. A life remade. It gives us hope—that no matter the circumstances, we can be removed from the pit—into pure, simple joy.
It speaks of transformation. It speaks of the beauty around us. It quietly points to the Savior and to the hope for a life redeemed.
Give yourself a treat. Go online and look at Carl Larsson’s paintings. Enjoy the sweetness and the beauty of a man who escaped the slums and went on to give the world glimpses of the beauty of the small moments of life.