Kristjan Teder combined two of his greatest passions in his paintings: art and gardening. He studied in Tartu at the Pallas Art School, later also in Germany and Paris. While working as a painter, he also went to work as a beekeeper under the conditions of the Second World War, and later as a gardener. All manner of themes associated with nature prevail in his oeuvre: flower paintings, landscape motifs, and depictions of gardens.