Gunnar Åberg was born in 1869 and was not even 25 years old when he passed away at the beginning of 1894. Despite his short life, Gunnar Åberg managed to sample works that gave promise of something big.

Alongside Bruno Liljefors, he can be said to be the foremost animal painter of his time. Åberg was a student at the Art Academy in Stockholm 1886-1892. During his time at the academy, he received permission to draw animals at the University of Veterinary Medicine and apparently received strong impressions from Liljefors during his student years.

Åberg's interest in animals was also expressed when he and his best friend Axel Sjöberg made illustrations for August Strindberg's book "Flower paintings and animal pieces. The youth appropriated” (1888).

Gunnar ended his academic studies with a royal medal. He studied for a time for Bonnat in Paris, where he fought together with Pelle Swedlund in the winter of 1889-1890. The painting in the auction was executed in 1892, the very year that Gunnar Åberg was awarded the royal medal.

In the motif of the sparrow hawk that has taken its prey in the form of a squirrel, Gunnar Åberg appears as a genuine portrayer of "The Wild Kingdom". In the same way as Bruno Liljefors, he is a social realist and captures the conditions of the animal world without the kind of idolizing look that was prevalent among most other animal painters at this time. Gunnar Åberg executes his subject with a crisp, detailed painting that gives a strong sense of presence. It is a painting that shows great similarities with Bruno Liljefors' highly regarded 1880s painting.

Åberg's untimely death deprived him of the opportunity to experience something of the public appreciation that national icon Bruno Liljefors received to such a large extent. For this, Åberg's career was too short and his output too small. Gunnar Åberg was a member of the Artists' Club in Stockholm and he is represented at the National Museum and the Uddevalla Museum, among other places.