Anna Billing

After being introduced to painting by her father Tore Billing, she trained under Swedish artists including Kerstin Cardon and became a student of the French painter Georges Jeannin [fr] in Paris.

She was first raised in a highly cultural home where as a small child she associated with prominent figures of the times including the actor Nils Almlöf, the painter Joseph Magnus Stäck and the composer Jacopo Foroni.

Despite progressing in music thanks to the lessons she received from Carl Book, she received support for her ambition from the artists who visited her home, including August Malmström, Fredrik Scholander, Uno Troili and Alfred Wahlberg).

[2] Her early works were flower paintings in oils, one of which was accepted in 1884 for presentation in the Paris Salon, receiving acclaim from the critics.

[2] On returning to Sweden, encouraged by Malmström she began to paint landscapes, initially as watercolours.