Midvinterblot

Carl Larsson (28 May 1853 – 22 January 1919) was a Swedish painter representative of the Arts and Crafts Movement. His many paintings include oils, watercolors, and frescoes. He considered his finest work to be Midvinterblot (Midwinter Sacrifice). It is Sweden's most debated painting. The painting depicts a legend from Norse mythology in which the Swedish king Domalde was sacrificed in order to avert a famine. After a long controversy it was rejected by the museum, but the debate resurfaced again in the late 20th century, after which it was finally honored with the place that Carl Larsson intended it to have - in the National museum in Stockholm.

Through his paintings and books, “Little Hyttnäs” (the house given to him by his father-in-law) has become one of the most famous artist's homes in the world, transmitting the artistic taste of its creators and making it a major line in Swedish interior design. Larsson's popularity increased considerably with the development of color reproduction technology in the 1890s, when the Swedish publisher Bonnier published books written and illustrated by Larsson and containing full color reproductions of his watercolors, titled “A Home”. However, the print runs of these rather expensive albums did not come close to that produced in 1909 by the German publisher Karl Robert Langewiesche (1874–1931). Langewiesche's choice of watercolors, drawings and text by Carl Larsson, titled “Das Haus in der Sonne” (The House in the Sun), immediately became one of the German publishing industry's best-sellers of the year — 40,000 copies sold in three months, and more than 40 print runs have been produced up to 2001. Carl and Karin Larsson declared themselves overwhelmed by such success. Larsson also drew several sequential picture stories, thus being one of the earliest Swedish comic creators.