ArtistSwedish
David Larsson
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David Larsson was born on February 20, 1898, in Myckleby parish on the island of Orust on the Swedish west coast. He grew up in the Gustafsberg area of Uddevalla, where he attended the local school between 1906 and 1913. From 1913 to 1916 he served as an apprentice at Bonniers Litografiska Anstalt in Gothenburg, gaining technical grounding in printmaking before turning to painting.
Between 1916 and 1920 he studied at Valands målarskola in Gothenburg under Birger Simonsson and Carl Ryd, two figures who shaped the early formation of what would become known as the Gothenburg Colorist movement. He held his first solo exhibition in Gothenburg in 1919, while still completing his final year of studies. He subsequently continued his education through study trips to Paris and Copenhagen, broadening his exposure to contemporary European painting.
Larsson is counted among the Göteborgskoloristerna, the loosely defined group of painters working in and around Gothenburg in the first half of the twentieth century who shared an interest in the expressive and structural possibilities of color. The group's intellectual and social center was partly constituted through a series of summer colonies, most notably at Hanhals and at Slussen on Orust. Larsson's home on the island became a regular gathering point for colleagues including Ragnar Sandberg, Birger Berndtsson, and Ivan Larsson, figures central to the Gothenburg scene.
His painting spans figure subjects, coastal motifs from the west coast archipelago, and riders, with a recurring interest in light falling across outdoor settings. A monograph on his life and work, David Larsson: Göteborgskolorist från Slussen Orust by Berndt E.B. Claesson, documents his career and the community of artists around him. His work is held in the collections of the Gothenburg Art Museum, Västergötlands Museum, and Gävle Konstmuseum. He died on January 10, 1976, in Gothenburg.
At auction, Larsson's work has appeared at Stockholms Auktionsverk Göteborg, Auctionet, Borås Auktionshall, and Göteborgs Auktionsverk, among others. The database records 13 items in total, primarily oils and gouaches. Top realized prices include 13,100 EUR for Seglare and 2,100 EUR for an oil on panel, with additional lots achieving 4,750 SEK and 2,250 SEK. The currency spread across both EUR and SEK reflects consignment across Swedish and international auction contexts.