Beyond Knitting
Meet the mother of Swedish-style fiber craft
While weaving rugs for the Larsson family’s home, a weaver made a mistake, but Karin Larsson urged her “Continue…let the hand be seen.”
“Karin Larsson: Let the Hand Be Seen,” a traveling exhibit (through October 27 at the American Swedish Institute (ASI) in Minneapolis), introduced me to Carl and Karin Larsson, known as the creators of Swedish style. Despite not having a drop of Swede in me I thoroughly enjoyed learning about them.
“Let the Hand Be Seen” showcases Karin’s work as an artist, wife, and mother. The exhibit features reproductions of Karin’s most significant pieces including furniture, dresses, curtains, pillows, and other handmade designs from the Larsson family home, Lilla Hyttnäs, in the tiny village of Sundborn, Sweden.
The objects are presented against a backdrop of reproductions of Carl Larsson’s famous paintings. (The ASI has an original which is part of the show.)
“Gentlemen never think you are doing anything when you are sitting with needlework.”
Karin Bergoo Larsson (1859-1928), a mother of eight and wife to Sweden’s beloved painter, Carl Larsson, gave up painting when she married, at the request of her husband. Karin found an outlet for her artistry by transforming a ramshackle country cottage, filling the home with handcrafted textiles and even furniture of her own design. This was the home Carl depicted in his famous book of watercolors Ett hem (A home).
Characterized by light, airy interiors, and a blend of traditional Swedish and Arts and Crafts elements, their home became one of the crucial influences on 20th-century Scandinavian design, recognized the world over in no small part thanks to Ikea.
From the Ikea website: “Karin’s colorful textiles, the way the couple changed notions of home and play, and the idea of an ‘all-purpose room’ where kids and adults can share space continue to influence Ikea today.”
There isn’t much for knitting on show, but so much inspiration! Table and bed covers feature stylized people, a geometric family tree, and simple pieces with luxuriant knotted edgings.
Karin created tassels, pom-poms, and fringe, using them to embellish chairs, pillows, walls, and ceilings in their home.
Her exuberant gold sunflower wool embroidery placed on the corners of a bright blue pillow has been much copied.
In fact, while searching “Karin Larsson Sunflower Pillow,” I got lots of hits, including from the most recent issue of Vogue Scandinavia (a new to me publication!)
“Take inspiration from Karin Larsson with these 5 interior design tips!” Another article I found in the same magazine was titled “Every room has a unique story: How Karin Larsson created the home that Carl Larsson loved to paint.”
Karin embraced new techniques in embroidering, weaving, knitting, crocheting, lacemaking, sewing clothes, and producing tapestries for her home.
Much of her work was distinguished by boldness, simplicity, and abstraction. A prime example of her bold weaving is the tapestry The Four Elements designed to be set up above the sofa in the dining room.
Her works reflected her artistic training, curiosity, innovation, and openness to the emerging trends of the late 1800s, such as Art Nouveau, the Arts and Crafts style, and rediscovery of “peasant” folk techniques.
Karin’s textiles were original, foreshadowing the abstract textile art styles soon to come. Her powerful compositions used vibrant colors, geometric shapes, and stylized plants. In black and white linen, she reinterpreted Japanese motifs.
Technically adventurous, she explored traditional folk techniques and experimented with others.
The original textiles at Lilla Hyttnäs are faded and much mended, while these reproductions are vivid and sharp.
Although I didn’t get to see any originals, it seems that Karin’s work focused more on expressing her vision rather than her skills. I do wish I could see the wrong side of the originals! (I can relate to not being a perfectionist!)
“I have been given a loom!”
In 1890, she learned weaving from women in a neighboring village, and soon began weaving her own creations, experimenting with both design and color. She created the Sundborn blanket for local weavers to make and sell.
In a culture where earth colors were the norm, Karin embroidered black and pink pillows and hangings combining purple, yellow, black, brown, pink, and royal blue.
Traditional rectilinear patterns were mixed with wavy lines and influences from Japanese and Native American models. Other weavings are classic examples of Art Nouveau design such as the Rose of Love tapestry that hung between Karin and Carl’s rooms.
“I am neglecting the household and other duties to try and get my tapestry finished by Christmas.”
Karin designed and sewed her and her children’s clothing. Her loose dresses and aprons became known as Karin Larsson models, and the striped pinafore as karinfökläde in Swedish.
Many images of Lilla Hyttnäs famously feature scrubbed wooden floors and rag rugs. In celebration of the exhibition, members of the Minnesota Weavers Guild were demonstrating Swedish rug weaving techniques.
Karin’s artistry takes center stage in this exhibit, but numerous portraits of her and her children also bring her spirit and creativity to life as you explore the glorious Turnblad Mansion that houses the ASI.
I was just at Karin Larsson’s exhibit last weekend. It was just as you described. I enjoyed it very much.
I would love to book a ticket to see this exhibition! Many thanks for (another) great article!
Thanks! Really enjoyed learning about Karin
Wow, what gorgeous work – wonderful to be able to see these stunning reproductions. Thanks for this excellent story and photographs.
But: it makes me wonder what amazing things she might also have achieved as a painter if her husband had not “requested” that she give up painting when they were married. I wish some of her early paintings had survived.
The ASI exhibition has 2 of her early paintings, they’re worth seeing!
I’m lucky enough to be a member to the ASI and have been to see the exhibit twice now and am planning at least one more trip before the exhibit is over. It’s so beautiful!! Thanks for featuring the ASI and my hometown in this wonderful article.
Love all of this- I wonder what she’d think walking through an IKEA. !! Except annoyed that her husband asked her to stop painting.
There are few examples of her painting left. She said she was happy to give it up, but who knows?
The ASI is a wonderful place. The house itself is spectacular not to mention the treasures it holds. I urge anyone in the area to visit the exhibition.
I had the opportunity to visit the museum several years ago, and the house is indeed spectacular. This exhibit looks amazing.
Many decades ago I bought a small book, “Carl Larsson’s Home” at a book sale. I loved this artist’s work, & his wife’s beautiful textiles. Those textiles have been influential in my love of linen & my own hand work. The book shows their lovely home in detail, it has been much used for inspiration, thanks so much for this article!
(Enjoyed working with the linen yarn on MDK for hand cloths)
Hi-
This looks like a wonderful exhibition. Can you tell us which other places it is traveling to? I see it’s in Philadelphia, anywhere else?
Thank you!!
It will be in Chicago in 2025 at the Swedish American Museum, I don’t know the dates, and they are not open today for me to check.
Oh, it looks like Minneapolis is the last stop for that exhibit. I wish it was open just another week! I’ll miss it, but I’m grateful for your wonderful tour! Thank you.
It will be in Chicago in 2025 at the Swedish American Museum, I don’t know the dates, and they are not open today for me to check. Closer for you!
Thank you for this info. I won’t be in Minneapolis before the exhibit closes, but I’m walking distance from Chicago’s Swedish American Museum. I’m looking forward seeing this next year!
This exhibit is on my list before it goes from Minneapolis! I can’t wait to see it in person! I’ve heard wonderful things about it. I absolutely LOVE Carl Larsson’s paintings and am so happy to learn more about Karin! Thank you for your article!
Do you know if this show will be touring? Sounds so beautiful and inspiring!
I hope it comes to NYC ❣️❣️
It was in Philly earlier this year, next stop is Chicago at the Swedish American Museum in 2025.
This is so cool! I love the embroidered pillows
Thanks for a colorful composition for those of us living too far away to attend! Excellent!
It makes me wonder what her paintings would have looked like if her husband hadn’t had such A fragile ego! He couldn’t stop her art!
Exactly.
Thanks for sharing this! My parents are very proud of their Scandinavian heritage (they’re traveling in Norway & Sweden right now!) and love Karl Larsson. They have many Larsson prints in their home and, in fact, I have the one at the top of this post in my home, a gift from them from earlier travels. I’m going to see if this traveling exhibit is coming closer to me (Wisconsin) or my parents (Michigan)!
In between! Chicago in 2025 at the Swedish American Museum.
Thank you so much – I really enjoyed this article. It left me wondering, though – given there was no internet, and Ms. Larsson had more than a little work on her hands raising her family, where/how did she encounter such a broad range of influences?
I wondered the same thing and ended up going down the rabbit hole of fun research! Karin attended art school and met Carl in the Swedish arts colony outside of Pars. She came from an affluent family and they did have servants, of course. There was a circle of well-known artists who visited them often, and Carl and Karin travelled for his work, especially to France and Germany. Her mother and sisters looked after the children, and she travelled with the newborn! There is a biography, Karin Bergoo Larsson by Marge Thorell, if you want to know more.
I love reading about women who create. Even though she was denied painting, she made a remarkable impact on the art world. Thank you for such a great article. I wish I was closer to Minnesota!
What a lovely piece. Thank you. I loved learning about this important woman of the arts!
What a beautiful article – it was delightful to learn about such an amazing and creative woman, and to see some of the incredible pieces she created. I’m not of Scandinavian heritage, but have always loved everything Swedish and everything knitting. I took Swedish in college as my foreign language requirement. A good friend of mine was married to a Scandinavian and when she divorced and downsized to an apartment, she gave me a beautifully framed print of the girl watering plants with knitting on the table. It holds a special place in my home and my heart. Needless to say I was incredibly and pleasantly surprised when I opened MDK this morning to find a picture of this print at the top of the page!
I’ve never looked into Carl Larsson or anything personal about him, and didn’t know anything about his wife. I’ll never look at this picture the same again. It will always hold much more meaning for me now and bring thoughts of Karin and her incredible life and the spectacular pieces she created. Thank you for a fabulous article about this amazing woman and her works! MDK never ceases to amaze ♥️
Have known about Carl Larsson for decades, but not about the woman behind all of those interiors. This is marvelous. (Sorry I didn’t know this exhibit had been in PA.) What great fabric in that last dress!
Thank you!
P.S. I love how happy and content she looks in all the photos of her. And I think it’s fabulous that she was totally ok with neglecting household and other duties to spend time doing what she loved!
SO BEAUTIFUL !
I believe that it is the Navajo belief that you always include a slight error in your weaving pattern because only the God’s are perfect.
Such an interesting piece of art and history. Many Thanks for posting this piece.
Great article. Inspirational
I had a wall like that in Palo Alto when my kids were in high school. I adored that room. It was so very Swedish. Many years after we sold the house, I was asked back to see the remodel. Oh my God! The wall was remodeled to look like nothing. All the
sweet things like our wall in the house were gone. Sadly, it had become just a house.
Thank you so much for the article. Now, at 91, I realize all those sweet things were most probably taken from Mrs. Larrson as the house was built in the ’20s. Carrie
I love this so much. Being of Swedish/Norwegian heritage(also half full Italian) I am interested in learning more about my Scandinavian heritage.
I have visited Sundborn twice. The first time I went as a young person, and then decades later with my mother. There are just a few paintings by Karin there and I liked them better than her husband’s paintings. They were outstanding works of art. It made me so sad because I kept imagining what might have been.
Her textiles throughout the home were magnificent. A remarkable museum.
Beautiful, vibrant, creative and ahead of her time. Thank you for sharing this. It breaks my heart she was asked to give up painting by her husband, the painter. I wonder what would have happened if she had asked him to give up painting as well? Cheers to the resiliency of the human spirit!
Here is a link with more photos from the exhibit. I may have to plan a trip to Chicago next year.
https://rightsandbrands.com/news/karin-larsson-let-the-hand-be-seen-travels-to-three-museums-in-the-usa
Thanks so much for this post!
Fascinating to hear more about Karin.
My mother was a huge Larsson family fan.
I have always loved his art and so enjoyed learning about his wife, Karin and her artistic talents as well! Will keep an eye out for her exhibit in Chicago in 2025. I’d love to see it! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for this wonderful article. She was indeed an extraordinary person, with wonderful ideas.
Wonderful article! Thanks so much for sharing the story as well as the photos!
Oh no, now I’m tempted to try weaving!
UPDATE!! from the Swedish American Museum in Chicago:
“Let the Hand Be Seen Will be open from Friday, Jan. 17 until Sunday, April 20, 2025. Typically for opening dates there is a special event in the evening around 6 p.m. where the artist(s) will speak and guests can enjoy refreshments as well as the new exhibit. Be on the lookout for announcements with those details!”
This is on my bucket list of must-d0 & see. I love walking thru IKEA and find it very relaxing and rejuvenating to the senses. SO, I must see this ASI exhibit as a primary reason to go to Minneapolis, secondary reason is to see daughters & Grands. Thanks for a great article with wonderful photos.
The Swedish Institute is a jewel in our city, this exhibition is a must see!