He began his artistic education at Skåne School of Painting in Malmö, but interrupted his studies to move to Paris in 1929. Following the well-trod road for many young Swedes he enrolled at the Académie Scandinave based at the Maison Watteau. There he was taught by Othon Friesz and Charles Dufresne amongst others while also working at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. His first solo was held in Strasbourg in 1934 to great acclaim, praised particularly enthusiastically by the critic Marcel Sosson (1897-1968).
With the outbreak of war, Olson volunteered to fight for France, joining the infantry and seeing action in the Ardennes, at the Meuse and Verdun. Ending up in German captivity he was forced to work on wall construction for two years whilst imprisoned in Stalag III-A at Luckenwalde. A leg injury led to his repatriation to France and at the end of hostilities he was honoured with the Croix de Guerre and Legion d’Honneur.
After the War Olson’s career continued apace. He was a regular exhibitor at the Paris Salon and held numerous solo exhibitions in Paris and Stockholm. In Paris he was championed by Gunnar Lundberg the founder and first Director of the Tessin Institute and in Stockholm his dealer was Gösta Stenman who had discovered and launched Helene Schjerfbeck.
The City of Paris' awarded him their cultural prize for his artistic work and he is represented in the collections of the French state, the National Museum in Tours and in several French provincial museums as well as at the 'Institut Tessin' in Paris. In Sweden he is represented at the National Museum and Moderna Museet as well as at the museums in Malmö, Helsingborg, Kalmar, Landskrona, Ystad and Kristianstad.
