In this late work by Carl Larsson, we see his and Karin's first granddaughter Gunlög, born in 1912, standing behind the red pillar in Verkstaden (The Workshop) in Lilla Hyttnäs in Sundborn, a room that originally served as a studio before the new larger (Sweden's largest at the time) studio was inaugurated on New Year's Eve 1899. In connection with this, Karin Larsson moved in with her looms in the old space, which subsequently came to be called Verkstaden (Workshop). The room, which also served as a parlour for the whole family, is still dominated by yellow beadboard and green carpentry. The interior is both quirky and practical. In the far corner is the podium painted by Carl Larsson in “Barnbarnet” (The Grandchild) on which Karin set up a workplace with a sewing machine so that, through the neighbouring windows, she could keep an eye on children playing outside while she created her textiles. In the painting, we see her sewing machine glimpsed behind Gunlög.
Carl Larsson's enchanting depictions of his own children have won the hearts of millions of viewers around the world. This is particularly true of the watercolours taken from the family's fabled artist's home in the small village of Sundborn.
In 1894, Carl Larsson began to depict daily life in Sundborn in a series of highly personal watercolours. They were published in 1899 in the book ‘Ett hem’ (A Home) and were accompanied by a text aimed at remodelling the interior of the home. These new and fresh images of a family's life, in everyday as well as festive life, were immediately seen as a concentrate of a Swedish ideal and they were followed by many more, in other books.
Through Carl Larsson's paintings, we were able to follow his children as they grew older, and by 1918, when the painting in question was auctioned, the children had grown up and grandchildren had been born. Carl Larsson himself was an artist at the end of his life (he died in January the following year). During the 1910s, Fritzes Kungl. Hofbokhandel in Stockholm was his main sales channel and the demand for charming Carl Larsson children was great. As his own children grew up, he began to paint the children in the neighbourhood and his grandchildren instead.