Anders Zorn (1860 - 1920)

Nationality

Sweden

Place of Birth

Mora, Sverige

Place of Death

Stockholm, Sverige

Biography

Anders Zorn, who was born in Mora in Dalarna in 1860 and died there in 1920, is considered one of Sweden’s foremost twentieth-century artists. Anders Zorn’s artistic career started early at the age of fifteen, when he was accepted as a student at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm. At the time, his main means of expression was watercolours, and he became known for his skill at painting water and landscapes. Zorn travelled around Europe to study art and find inspiration, first going to Spain and then to England, where he lived for four years. It was during his time in London that he learned the technique of etching. With Rembrandt as his role model, he developed a form of expression of his own in graphic art, using stippled dots and lines to build up his subject. Zorn continued travelling and after a time living in Paris, returned to England in 1887. This time, the move meant a switch to oil painting, and it was this medium that brought him his major breakthrough in Sweden and internationally. Portrait painting and paintings of nude women in the open air, preferably in rural settings from his home area of Dalarna, became his signature.