Sköld worked as the director of the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, and was involved with the founding of the Moderna Museet.

[3][4] His parents, Eva Charlotta Eriksdotter and Johan Sköld [sv], were missionaries.

His early schooling was in China, and at the age of thirteen his family moved to Sweden.

[3] He was a professor at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts from 1938 until 1942, and served as director from 1941 until 1950.

[3] Sköld died on 7 November 1958, in the district of Hägersten in Stockholm, Sweden, and is buried in the cemetery at Ekerö Church [sv].