Frans Alvar Alfred Cawen was born in central Finland on 8 June 1886 at Korpilahti, the son of the Revd. Frans Cawen and Eleanora Cawen (née Boije af Gennas), both of whom were interested in music and art. Several well-known artists were friends of his parents. As a young man Cawen studied at the Academy of Fine Arts (Finland) between 1905 and 1907, and in Paris between 1908 and 1909 at the studio of Simon Cottet. He had his first exhibition in Finland in 1910, but in 1912 he returned to Paris, from where he traveled to Brittany and Spain.