[1] After leaving the academy, he and his friend and fellow artist Severin Nilsson (1846–1918) visited Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands, where they studied the works of the Old Masters.

A major breakthrough in his artistic career occurred in Paris, where he studied with Jean-Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts.

It was eventually purchased by Prince Eugen (1865–1947), himself a skilled amateur artist and art patron, who displayed the piece at his home, Waldemarsudde on Djurgården, in Stockholm.

Waldemarsudde has since become a museum, housing in its collection ten additional oil paintings and a large number of drawings attributed to Josephson.

[8][9][10][11] Josephson was deeply affected by his mother's death in 1881, though had found respite when, in 1883, he had obtained the patronage of Pontus Furstenberg (1827–1902), a wealthy merchant and art collector.

[13][14] Shortly after, Österlind took him back to Sweden and he was admitted to Ulleråkers sjukhus [sv], a mental institution in Uppsala.

His paintings had become rather distorted, but his earlier works were shown at exhibitions in Paris and Berlin, thanks to arrangements made by Richard Bergh and Georg Pauli, and he received several medals for them.