Childhood and youth

Ester Henning was born in 1887 at Yngshyttan, VŠrmland, as the fourth daughter among eight siblings. Her father was a shoemaker who later became a night watchman at the railway in Mora, Dalecarlia, where the family moved. He was an odd man who behaved peculiarly. All the children, many of whom had artistic talent, were perceived as original. Already at the age of twelve Ester moved from home to earn her own living. At the same time she started to paint.

Portrait of Ester Henning
The picture was taken in 1926

Click on the picture to
see the entire photography

A hard life in Stockholm
In 1911 she went to Stockholm and was registered as a student at the Tekniska skolan which educated craftsmen. She also had to work as a housemaid and a washer-up in a restaurant. It was a hard life and Ester had to leave her studies in 1913, when she also got unemployed. The severe times with world war and food shortage made her starve.