Little Lie-A-Bed's Sad Breakfast 1900

Carl Larsson made this watercolor called 'Little Lie-A-Bed's Sad Breakfast' in 1897. This domestic scene invites us to consider the social expectations placed on children in late 19th-century Sweden. Larsson was a key figure in the Arts and Crafts movement, which sought to integrate art into everyday life. Here, he depicts his own daughter, highlighting the innocence of childhood. But the title suggests a tension between idealized domesticity and the realities of raising children. The girl's posture and expression convey a sense of reluctance or even boredom at the breakfast table. Larsson’s paintings often reflected progressive ideals about education and family life. He offered a vision of a comfortable home for the modern nuclear family, a popular notion in the rise of the Swedish welfare state. To fully understand Larsson's work, we might look to period sources, such as domestic advice manuals and educational treatises. This helps us to understand how he both reinforced and challenged prevailing social norms through his art.