Anders Zorn was a Swedish painter, etcher and sculptor. From 1875, he studied at the School of Arts and Crafts in Stockholm and transferred to the Academy of Arts in 1877. Initially, he wanted to become a sculptor, but soon turned to watercolour painting. Until 1887, he painted almost exclusively portraits and genre scenes in watercolour. In 1881, Zorn travelled to Paris via London. A year later, he settled in London where he trained in etching techniques. Zorn travelled extensively, visiting for instance Spain, Italy, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Hungary and Constantinople. On his travels, he produced numerous watercolours and drawings. In the winter of 1887/88, he switched to oil painting. Zorn took part in the Paris Salon several times and was Sweden's commissioner at the 1893’s Universal Exhibition in Chicago. In the following years, he travelled to the USA several times and painted more than 60 portraits, among others of famous personalities like the presidents Grover Cleveland and William Howard Taft. In 1896, he moved back to Sweden to his home town Mora with his wife. In Mora, he founded a college of agricultural sciences and also bought a fisherman's house by the sea, where he painted plein air watercolours. Anders Zorn received numerous awards, including at the International Art Exhibition in Berlin and the Venice Biennale. He was made a Knight of the French Legion of Honour. Zorn left his estate to the town of Mora, on condition that a museum would be built to display his paintings and his collection of international art. The Zorn Museum opened in 1939.