The Ambleside Online folks are studying Vermeer.

Over at 4 Real Learning, they’re getting to know Winslow Homer.

But here in the Bonny Glen, we’ve just begun a book on American history which begins with the Vikings. And the Vikings put us in the mood for some Norse myths. And those, coming on the heels of all the Jan Brett stories we read during Advent, have us spinning our globe to Scandinavia on a daily basis, which is a perfect excuse for me to indulge in a month-long celebration of one of my favorite painters: Sweden’s Carl Larsson.

Here are some Larsson paintings:

Flowers on the Windowsill
Crayfishing
The Yard and the Wash-house

But here’s the one I love the best. Turn the clock back just a couple of years, and these little girls are mine. There’s Jane, lost in a reverie at the dresser when she’s supposed to be getting dressed; Rose, defiantly not dressed and with that look in her eye that dares you to do something about it; and baby Beanie, bemused by the layers and folds of clothing in which she finds (or almost loses) herself. You can tell this picture was painted by a father.