He lived most of his life in France and on the island of Gotland, Sweden, where he and his Swedish wife Carolina Benedicks-Bruce created the artists estate Brucebo, which was later established as a nature reserve.

[4] To compound his problems, the steamship Brooklyn, carrying about 200 of his works, sank outside Anticosti Island in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence on 8 November 1885.

In 1887, he and a group of fellow artists such as the American painter Theodore Robinson, travelled to Giverny where they shared a house and, influenced by Monet who lived nearby, painted a number of impressive impressionist sketches, using a brighter palette and with a heightened sensitivity to incorporating light.

[12] In 1888, on Bruce's return to Paris, he painted The Phantom Hunter, which became an instant success at the Salon and marked the peak of his career.

A month later, Bruce also sold some paintings to the American artist Walter Gay, who was visiting Grez at the time.

It was here that Bruce painted his Open Air Studio (now in the National Museum of Fine Arts, Stockholm).

[7] In 1900–06, the couple created a summer home called Brucebo (Swedish for: "The house where Bruce lives") on Gotland.

[14] Here, Bruce painted, did some amateur archaeology and socialized with the locals, while Benedicks-Bruce worked with sculptures and etchings as well as tending the garden and the many animals she had gathered at Brucebo.

[6][7] Bruce died suddenly on 17 November 1906 in Stockholm at the age of 47,[1] and Benedicks-Bruce settled down permanently at Brucebo.

[16] Originally used as a summer house by Bruce and his wife, they rebuilt and extended Brucebo in 1900–06 into their permanent home and studio.