Like many artists of his generation came Carl Skånberg from simple conditions. He himself was reticent about his background. His father was a shoemaker and disappeared early while the mother moved to Stockholm. Carl as a young man went to Stockholm, where he got a job as a sign painter. He studied at the Academy of Arts 1871-1874, and was a fellow student with, among others, Ernst Josephson, Carl Fredrik Hill and Carl Larsson.

Carl was popular among his friends and with the nickname of Skånis he became the focal point of the Swedish circle of friends in Paris who lived a bohemian life, often on credit, in anticipation of the great fame. There are many anecdotes about how he always found the advice, despite the sometimes glaring lack...