Greta Gerell's mother encouraged her artistic talent early on, and at just 17, she was accepted as one of the youngest students ever at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm. During the 1920s, Gerell studied with André Lhote in Paris, got scholarship to travel to Florance, and lived and studied in Munich. Gerell's first exhibition was held in Gummesson's art trade in Stockholm in 1927. The exhibition became a great success. Gerell's realistic artworks of landscape and animal motifs at the beginning of his career were catalysed by the impressionist movement. During the 1920s her painting changed to a new objectivity with a serene radiance and elements of purism. Interiors, portraits and still lifes became her inspirations and were executed with the utmost preciseness. Greta Gerell lived in accordance with anthroposophy since her youth, which, according to her, did not directly influence her painting but accompanied her throughout her life. In 1967, the Greta Gerell Foundation was established to support anthroposophical activities in Sweden. Art critic Karl Asplund described her painting as "a skilled realism, imbued with a quiet, warm feeling for the subject."