Karin Bergöö Larsson and the Emergence of Swedish Design

Identified as “the first designer of what would become known as Swedish Modern” by the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., Karin Bergöö 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 Hyttnäs in the tiny village of Sundborn, Sweden—into a designer 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 design, 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 designs famous, and her influence continues to inform the concepts of retail giant IKEA.

Marge Thorell is vice president at a digital pharmaceutical advertising agency and has written a number of articles about Karin and Carl Larsson and Sweden. She lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Marge Thorell
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 186
Bibliographic Info: 46 photos, chronology, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2019
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7406-3
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3308-4
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments  ix
Foreword by Rhonda Eleish
and Edie van Breems  1
Preface  5
1 • The Early Years, 1849–1867  13
2 • The School Girl, 1868–1877  24
3 • The Emerging Artist, 1877–1881  35
4 • Life in France, 1881–1882  44
5 • The Future Husband, 1881–1882  52
6 • The Courtship, 1882  65
7 • The Engagement, 1882–1883  69
8 • The Mother, 1884–1888  81
9 • The Cottage, 1889–1890  94
10 • Return to Art, 1891–1893  104
11 • The Swedish Room, 1894  113
12 • The Innovator, 1895–1904  122
13 • The Tragedies, 1905–1916  130
14 • From Muse to Mother, 1917–1918  142
15 • Widowhood, 1919–1928  147
16 • The Legacy, 1929–Present  155
Chronology  161
Chapter Notes  163
Bibliography  171
Index  175