The artist Pehr Hilleström has been credited as the founder of the Swedish genre painting. In the second half of the 18th century he began painting everyday subjects of the different social stratums. Today his paintings are noted for their way of showing us the culture of the time since the photograph still had still not been introduced.   Hilleström was a court painter for King Gustav III who wanted him to depict the Swedish people and their different costumes. The king thought the costumes were of great significance for their psychological impact on people and therefore used them as a way to unite the nation psychologically, both by the genre paintings and also by making a national costume. The costumes were used as a symbol of an unbroken tradition and national heritage. This work examines the way Hilleström produced costumes in his paintings, by comparing the painted costumes with extant costumes and images from costume history.    The purpose is to find out how credible the costumes are and also finding out what the primary aims of the paintings were. The paintings will be analyzed with focus on the costumes to determine which symbolic meanings the clothes have and what they express about the time. Even though Hilleström is seen as a source for cultural history today his role as an artist must be taken in account  which may have had an impact  on the paintings credibility.