Additional texteDescription: This is one of Larsson’s most famous watercolours from Lilla Hyttnäs. The interior illustrates several of the ideals Ellen Key presented in Beauty for All. Daylight pours in and through the open window the room is filled with fresh air. The 19th-century heavy curtains with tassels, fringes and dust-gathering drapes are conspicuously absent here. On the windowsill are plants in plain clay pots. There are no brightly-painted flowerpots decorated with raised floral or animal motifs. The ideal object, according to Key, simply serves its purpose. Pots are for flowers, and the best adornment for a windowsill was natural, green plants – not richly-decorated flowerpots. Carl Larsson’s A Home stated clearly that “artificial flowers with ribbons, dust and microbes” were not desirable.
Exhibition text: Carl and Karin Larsson combined new design with old traditions. Practicality dictated their interior design, but it was equally important that furniture and objects form an attractive harmony. This ideal was also propagated by others, including Ellen Key, who advocated homes that were in a new and light style, in her essay “Skönhet för alla” (Beauty for All) in 1899.
The Larssons moved to Lilla Hyttnäs, a house in Sundborn, in the summer of 1889. Here, Carl and Karin together created the interiors that made their home famous. Karin designed the furniture and textiles, which she embroidered and wove. A studio was fitted up in one of the hallways. It features many eye-catching details, including the funny man crowning a column. When a larger studio extension was added, this room became a workshop for the whole family.
The interiors of the Larsson home were characterised by rural simplicity. Nevertheless, every detail was carefully designed, with influences from England, Scotland and Japan. The kitchen, which was first and foremost a place for household chores, did not display the same modern interior style and comfort as the rest of the house.
