Anna Agnér was an artist with a preference for flower still lifes, portraits and landscapes. She participated in exhibitions in Sweden and abroad.

Anna Naemi Gabriella Agnér was born in 1896. She was the daughter of the organist and elementary schoolteacher Bror Johansson and his wife Sigrid. The couple had one more daughter and three sons. The oldest son died in infancy, and his name, Bror Gabriel Hildebrand, was given to the youngest son. The family lived in Hulterstad on the Baltic island of Öland and the sons eventually took the surname Brorsson.

The family moved to the school building in Mörrum and we may assume that their father taught his own children. Anna Agnér later carried out art studies for the sculptor Gottfrid Larsson and the painter, illustrator and graphic artist Otte Sköld in Stockholm. She also attended the Skånska målarskolan for a period, whose aim, according to the newspaper Trelleborgstidningen in 1939, was to “awaken and sharpen the pupils’ observation of the expressive aspects of natural phenomena, and to instil in them the technical skills that are essential to be able to manifest these in form and colour”.

Anna Agnér married the merchant Bror Hilbert Thorell in 1918 and they had one son, Ulf, born in 1929. The marriage was dissolved and she eventually met her second husband, Gunnar Agnér. They were married in 1931 and settled down in Stocksund near Stockholm.

Anna Agnér made study trips to Paris where she attended the Académie Scandinave Maison Watteau that was run by Swedish, Norwegian and Danish artists. She also travelled to southern Europe and North Africa. She painted flower still lifes as well as portraits and landscapes in a “fresh, finely-tuned colour scale”. Her journeys in Greece and Palestine resulted in ink drawings.

Anna Agnér participated in shared exhibitions in Rättvik and Kristianstad and in the Liljevalchs autumn salon. In 1938, the 300th jubilee of the Swedish colony in Delaware was celebrated with among other things an art exhibition in which Anna Agnér participated. She is represented in the museum in Ulricehamn.

Anna Agnér died in 1977 at 81 years of age. Her final resting place is in Djursholm Cemetery.