Karin Bergoo Larsson and the Emergence of Swedish

Identified as "the first er of what would become known as Swedish Modern" by the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., Karin Bergoo Larsson (1859-1928) was a mother of eight and wife to Sweden‘s beloved painter, Carl Larsson. Herself a well-regarded artist, she gave up painting when she married, at the request of her husband. Taking up needles and cloth, she then turned a somewhat ugly cottage--Lilla Hyttnas in the tiny village of Sundborn, Sweden--into a er showcase. Inspired by the Swedish countryside, she filled the home with handcrafted wall hangings, bed coverings, tablecloths, pillow covers and even furniture of her own , while greatly influencing her husband‘s work by encouraging him to move away from dark oils to more illuminating and light-filled watercolors. His paintings of their home made her interior s famous, and her influence continues to inform the concepts of retail giant IKEA.