Anna Gardell-Ericson was born in Visby on the island of Gotland, Sweden. She began painting at the age of sixteen and showed sufficient talent to be sent to Switzerland to study art. She later studied at the Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm and then in 1879 to went to Paris to continue her studies. Gardell-Ericson had a major showing at the Paris Salon in 1882 where she achieved particular success with her small landscape paintings and as a result was given a contract with an annual salary from art dealers, Goupil and Cie.
In 1884, Gardell-Ericson and her husband returned to Sweden settling in Gothenburg where she was a regular exhibitor at Gummmeson Gallery and exhibited with several art associations.
Major retrospectives of Gardell-Ericson's work were held in 1939 and 1946. A 100 year anniversary exhibition of her work was held at Gotland Art Museum in 1982.