Fanny Brate, née Ekbom (Swedish painter) 1862 - 1940
Fanny Brate was a Swedish artist. She is best known for her domestic interiors painted around the turn of the last century, e.g. A Day of Celebration 1902. The painting, held in the Nationalmuseum’s collection, has been reproduced on everything from postcards to coffee tins. Brate also worked as a portrait painter and illustrator. In 1879 she began her studies at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts and in 1885 she was given an art scholarship that allowed her to study at the Académie Colarossi in Paris two years later. Having returned from Paris, she married philologist Erik Brate. The couple had four children, but this did not prevent Fanny Brate from continuing as an artist. Fanny Brate was a contemporary of Carl Larsson and Ellen Key. Just as Carl Larsson painted she willingly subjects with interiors from the new age modern home. Ellen Key's thoughts on a home with "beautiful everyday for all" is clear in both Brates as Larsson's pictures. The homes are bright and airy, with happy children playing. . In art historical texts of Fanny Brate often stressed at the paintings with designs from home. In fact, she had a wide repertoire spanning portraits, interiors, still life and landscape painting. In the present painting permeates the sunlight scene and koloriten dominated seductive of garden green tones but with an exquisite sense of colour will return the red as an accent throughout the image.
