Influenced by the national romanticism of Gothicismus, he also collected motives from Norse mythology.

[2] Malmström was born at Nubbekullen in Västra Ny parish within the municipality of Motala in Östergötland County, Sweden.

[3] His father, Anders Gustaf Malmström, was a carpenter and ornamental sculptor who managed the small farm.

An injury in his right hand which never cured properly exempted him from hard work and gave him even more time to spend on arts.

In his teens he was skilled enough to support his family, he made small paintings and coloured pictures which were given away as presents on birthdays and name days.

It was first with the help of the painter Nils Andersson (1817-1865) that he managed to be accepted and thus on 3 November 1849 he was registered at the academy's ground school.

Already at the beginning his talent attracted attention and his study period was marked by rewards of all sorts.

[4] For the 1855 contest, he was the only student to submit a contribution with Konung Gustaf II Adolfs lifsfara i träffningen vid Wittsjö ("King Gustaf II Adolf in mortal danger at the battle of Wittsjö") .

Besides scholarships and picture sales, he earned incomes from portrait orders and restoration tasks.

Malmström returned 1858 to Düsseldorf to complete Vikingar på stranden ("Vikings at shore") together with the Norwegian painter Hans Fredrik Gude (1825–1903) but soon traveled back to Paris.

Regulations for travel scholarships prescribed that a copy of a work by a great master should be made.