I never think of Munch as having produced anything other than The Scream. In fact, I never think much of Munch. The Sick Child (Norwegian: Det syke barn) is a group of six paintings completed by the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch that record a moment before the death of his older sister, Sophie, from tuberculosis at 15.
Sophie is typically shown on her deathbed accompanied by a dark-haired, grieving woman sitting by the child’s bedside, holding her hand. Their hands are positioned in the exact center. The older woman is more distressed than the child.
The model was a young girl who Munch had observed when he accompanied his father, a doctor, to treat her brother’s broken leg.
The first version took over a year to complete. He returned to this deeply traumatic event repeatedly in his art—survivor’s guilt—completing six oil paintings and many studies in various media, over a period of more than 40 years.
An 1896 lithograph in black, yellow and red sold in 2001 at Sotheby’s for $250,000.
The original version, first exhibited in 1886, was ridiculed and drew “a veritable storm of protest and indignation” from critics, due to Munch’s use of impressionistic techniques, his abandonment of line, and its unfinished feel.
Over 40 years later, the Nazis deemed Munch’s paintings “degenerate art” and removed them from German museums.
In gratitude to Britain for taking him in when he fled the Nazis, the 1907 painting was purchased by a Norwegian shipping magnate in 1939 and donated to the Tate Gallery.
