Traveling Part Two - Carl Larsson

Be welcome dear, to Carl Larson and his wife! (in Swedish there's a rhyme...)

The welcoming entrance 

On our trip we passed the house of the Swedish very famous artist, Carl Larsson. This is a very special place to me as my first contact with him was when I participated in a musical about him when I was about 15. Three years later when I moved for my education I realized that I lived quite close Carl Larsson’s home in Sundborn. I remember the day when a friend and I took our bikes and went through the forest on small pathways a beautiful day of September and finally got to his beautiful house. 

That was in the end of the tourist season so we got the guided tour almost by ourselves. I was very touched off the visit and I imagined that one of his children suddenly could open a door and run into the room. I recognised the interior from the scenes in the musical but also from all of his paintings, as he is known from all the paintings he did with his family members in and outside the house. He wanted the paintings to look like reality; if a room was to clean he could throw a toy on the floor so it looked more natural.

 I'm sorry that I can't show you anything from the inside but we weren't allowed to take any photos there, but the room inside these windows is very famous for the paintings Carl made here like "Blomsterfönstret" (The flower window)

The house was a gift to the Larssson family from Karin's father but through the years they let house grow and refurbished it a lot and the house became a result of their passion for design, art but also  impressions they had got when they were abroad.

Later in my life I have read books about him, but also about his wife Karin. (I made a short reflection about her on my Swedish blog Jaknell two years ago). They met in France where they both study arts but when they became a family and they got their first child she stepped back with her paintings but she continued her artistic talent through her handicraft. She wowed art fabrics, very beautiful and expressive in my eyes but they were not always appreciated in her time, as they were very stylistic and original. But nowadays she has got redress and her artwork is showed much more.

The Webpage 

When I prepared for this post I wanted to give you a link to the webpage for his house in Sundborn and then I discovered a film that I hadn’t seen before. It’s from 1916 (almost 100 years ago!) and shows Carl Larsson when he has some guests on a visit, probably some of his children and grandchildren. The webpage also has an English version but I found it better to see the film on the Swedish one. You will recognize some things from the film on my photos like the bridge my daughter’s standing on. I guess Karin and Carls children and grandchildren have been standing on it like her many times.

I can't make a watercolor painting off my children but I can catch them with my camera and I think that Carl Larsson's children wished that their father had done that when they had to stand or sit in front of him for hours when he was working with a painting.

There’s so many interesting things to know about this man who started a life in a very poor family in Stockholm but was born with a very special talent that his teacher Jacobsen discovered when he was 13, so he urged him to apply to The Royal Swedish Academy of Arts. But I’m also convinced that he wouldn’t have become who he was if he hadn’t met his wife Karin. (That’s my personal opinion, but this is my blog so I decide that I can have it…)