Anders Zorn was born in Sweden on the 18th of February 1860 to a single mother. She had met his father while working in Uppsala, Germany but had no intentions of marrying him. Zorn would never meet his father who died in 1872, when he was 12. Due to the seasonal farm work that his mother took Zorn was raised by his grandparents, before being sent to school in Enkoping. He would enter the Royal Academy of Art in Sweden when he was 15 to further improve his budding artistic abilities. When he first started his artistic passion laid with wood sculpting, but soon he found himself interested in painting which would remain his life long medium. Zorn chose to paint watercolors which was not a popular technique at the time, but it would remain his medium of choice until 1887. 

           Zorn would find himself plunged into the art world with the display of his painting "In Mourning" at the student exhibition held at the Royal Academy of Art. The art critics were in awe of the painting's skillfulness, and the way the young girl's mourning face was captured under the veil. This lead to Zorn receiving a number of commissions around Sweden to paint portraits. It was through his portrait painting that Zorn would meet his wife Emma. Emma came from a wealthy family and while they liked Zorn his lack of finances meant that marriage was not going to happen. Zorn left in 1881 to go abroad in an effort to make the money needed to support himself and Emma. He spent the next four years living between England and Spain, while spending the summers in Sweden with his mother or Emma. It was during this time that his technique and skill as an artist matured. He had begun studying the surface of water to see how the lights reflected off of the surface. This caused his use of watercolors to become brighter and more enhanced. Some of the paintings that he created during this period were "Summer Vacation" and "Thornbush". 

         During his life he would be bestowed many honors, such as being awarded the Cross of the Legion d'honneur by the government of France and being named to the Swedish order of Wasa as a knight. He was also given a exhibition in memoriam of his life and art in Boston when he died in 1920, which showed his impact on the art community of the time.