Jacob Olof Magnus Thunman, son of a Swedish school teacher, was born in the student residency Imperfektum on Västra Ågatan in Uppsala. After studying in Uppsala, Thunman attended Stockholm’s Academy of Fine Arts from 1902 to 1906, where he was awarded a medal in his final year and met his future wife. As an Academy student, he participated in the inaugural Konstnärslaget (The Artist League) exhibition in 1905. In 1916, Thunman married fellow artist Carin Kuylenstierna (1879-1968), a mayor’s daughter from Axvall in Västergötland in the Uppland archipelago, where they resided until 1923. They then moved to Skälsjön at Lövstabruk, Österlövsta parish in Uppland and finally to Knivsta, where they lived in the gatehouse at Noor’s castle. Knivsta is now home to the Thunman School, named after him. Thunman was not only active as a visual artist: he described himself “as a bit of a painter, a bit of a poet, a bit of a sage, a bit of a human being”, addressing local motifs.

For centuries, the Inn at the Särsta farm, near Noor, the Thunmans residence, has been a landmark for travelers. The current building, with its gable roof, probably dates from the nineteenth century. Since the seventeenth century, Sweden has had a regulated system of stop-and-go inns. A charter from 1878 stipulated that in addition to food, the innkeeper had to provide at least two clean, heated rooms and accommodate one or more horses. In the second half of the nineteenth century, rail traffic totally revolutionized travel in Sweden. The connection between Stockholm and Uppsala opened in 1866, running five to six daily trains in each direction. This influx transformed Knivsta from a farmer's village to a hub for railway traffic. By the mid-1870s, a country store opened at Särsta, as well as a soft drink brewery and a slaughterhouse. Since the Alsike inn was considered too far from the station, the inn in Särsta was opened. After World War I, automobiles began to take over and the centuries-old inn system was completely phased out in 1932, lending its appeal to Thunman to portray travelers’ journey of the past.