Carl Larsson’s watercolours were extremely popular in Germany – but Larsson’s German publisher, Karl Robert Langewiesche, had promoted only those pictures which depicted scenes of happy children, thereby ensuring Larsson’s nearly exclusive association with images of domestic bliss.

In Sweden, however, Larsson was known as a social reformer, having developed with his wife Karin a domestic style that, with a bright environment and a combination of clear colours, took into account the needs of all members of the family – including the children!

Their house was a complete work of art, and became a model for a middle-class in search of new ideals.