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Author: Matt_Viinanen, Contributing Editor
| Anders grew up on a farm in the village Yvraden, at a time when the world was rapidly transforming in the industrial era where magnates were born. They lived a very simple life. His mother, Grudd Anna Andersdotter, often spent time away from home, working in Uppsala and as a result Anders grew closer to his grandmother and developed a deep religious side to his character. The household required that everyone did their share of work, which of course involved Anders too.
By tradition, Anders was called Grudd Anders, after his mother, but following his move to Enköping there came many changes. He was turning into a city boy, a change supported by his father’s brewery friends, Hartman and Kalb to mention a few, in Stockholm. He changed his name to Leonard Zorn, and for the first time understood the meaning of the words ‘poverty’ and ‘class-distinction’. It could not be said that he was the most successful of students, but he was not a bad one either; his mind and heart belonged elsewhere, beyond the academia of hard analytical studying. |
 | The young Zorn caught his teacher’s attention with his natural artistic talents. After school he would draw for a Ms. Sahlin, who allowed Anders free experimentation to draw figures from posters and books. He produced some exquisite portraits in pencil of his classmates and views from the town of Enköping, and created some amazing woodcarvings, many of which are preserved and reside at the Anders Zorn museum in Mora.
He finalized his education in the spring of 1875, and at the age of fifteen his new goal was set: Stockholm, and the Academy of Arts. |
The Academy, 1875-1881
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| Once admitted to the Academy, Zorn signed up for Woodworking lessons, but was soon transferred to the preoperational school known as the "School of Principle".
During his years at the Academy he would always return home for the summers, never absent for the Swedish holiday, mid summer, held in June, and as a devoted son he stayed in touch with his mother the whole time. It was during one of these summers when Zorn took to painting in watercolours, focusing mainly on local sceneries and portraits, and his new life as an artist inevitably led to new interpretations of the traditional, tourist-friendly, country life in Mora. Insight deepened and intimacy toward the culture and language intensified, consequentially affecting his compositional skills, despite technical skills remaining unchanged. The three thousand kronor he received from his father was virtually exhausted by 1878, after three years at the Academy, but with the support from the German brewery society in Stockholm, he was given the means in which to continue his studies. As Zorn himself states in his autobiography: "I would be able to continue my studies, but dependant on a stranger's help. This felt humiliating and put a lot of pressure on me. The economical aid was for the fellow countryman's son. My self esteem and pride attended a brutal but awarding school." Anders Zorn at the Academy 1877 |  |
| Later in life he described this situation as a form of organised charity, an economical help program existing long before any such systems were established by society.
In a letter written to his "dearly beloved mother", he wrote how his former landlady Ms. Sahlin, persistently told him to dress properly whenever he moved in "good society", which was now the case. A Mr. Anton Bolinder, owner of several factories, and father to two of Ander's school friends, epitomised the new upper-class world Zorn now had to adapt to. Thanks to Mr. Bolinder, Anders was accepted at the preoperational school. The family had taken Zorn in and treated him like a dear friend and member of family. There were also other families there for Aders - to name a few: Dolling, Hartman and Heiss, all of whom willingly opened up their doors for the young prodigy. Zorn soon had opportunity to start providing for himself. With his rapid development in the art of portraiture he hastily began taking commissions, mostly via the families mentioned above, which included being hired to produce portraits of the deceased. He coupled that with various illustration jobs for magazines, which was to provide a good source of income. From his biography he wrote: |
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