Her younger sister, Stina, married the English geologist Francis Arthur Bather.[1] Karin showed early artistic talent, and after attending the Franska Skolan Ecole Francaise in Stockholm, studied at the Slöjdskolan (Handicrafts School; now Konstfack) and from 1877 to 1882 at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts. After completing her studies there, she went to Grez-sur-Loing, outside Paris, where there was a colony of Scandinavian artists, to continue painting.[2]