Carl Larsson quickly made up for a loveless and impoverished childhood when, in a succession of events that must have seemed dreamlike, he met a splendid young woman, she loved him back, they married, and the bride’s father gave the new couple a little house. Eight children later, the (expanded) cottage was bursting with affection, and Larsson documented the sources of his domestic bliss in light, bright, extraordinarily cheerful, and very beautiful watercolours.