The Sick Child (Munch)

The Sick Child (

Throughout his career, Munch often returned to and created several variants of his paintings. The Sick Child became for Munch—who nearly died from tuberculosis himself as a child—a means to record both his feelings of despair and guilt that he had been the one to survive and to confront his feelings of loss for his late sister. He became obsessive with the image, and during the decades that followed he created numerous versions in a variety of formats. The six painted works were executed over a period of more than 40 years, using a number of different models.[1]

The series has been described as "a vivid study of the ravages of a degenerative disease."^[2] All of the paintings and many of the ancillary works are considered significant to Munch's oeuvre. An 1896 lithograph in black, yellow and red was sold in 2001 at Sotheby's for $250,000.^[3]

The paintings

Each painting shows Sophie in profile, lying on her deathbed, and obviously having difficulty breathing, a symptom of advanced, severe tuberculosis.^[4] She is propped from her waist up by a large thick white pillow which partially hides a large circular mirror hung on the wall behind her. She is covered by a heavy dark blanket. She has red hair and is shown as frail and with a sickly pallor and vacant stare.^[1] She looks towards a dark and portentous full-length curtain to her left, which many art historians interpret as a symbol of death.

A dark-haired and older woman in a black dress sits by the child's bedside, holding her hand. The bond between the two is established through the joining of their hands, which are positioned at the exact center of each work. Their shared grip is typically rendered with such pathos and intensity that art historians believe that not only did the two figures share a deep emotional bond, but that they were most likely blood relations. In probability the woman is Sophie's aunt^[1] Karen. Some critics have observed that the older woman is more distressed than the child; in the words of critic Patricia Donahue, "It is almost as though the child, knowing that nothing more can be done, is comforting a person who has reached the end of her endurance".^[6]

The woman's head is bowed in anguish to the extent that she seems unable to look directly at Sophie. Because of this, her face is obscured and the viewer can only see the top of her head. A bottle is placed on a dressing table or locker to the left. A glass can be seen to the right on a vaguely described table.

The paintings vary in their colourisation. White especially figures in the first in the series, a representation of oblivion. Later, green and yellow figure as expressive representations of sickness, while in most works the reds represent the most dramatic and physical feature of late stage tuberculosis: coughing up blood.^[1]

Style

Every piece in the series is strongly influenced by the conventions of

Munch was only 26 when he completed the 1885–86 painting and uncertain enough of his ability, he gave it the tentative title Study. Munch completed six paintings titled The Sick Child. Three are now in Oslo (1885–86, 1925, 1927), the others in Gothenburg (1896), Stockholm (1907), and London (1907). He created eight studies in drypoints and etching after his breakthrough in 1892 when demand for his work grew.^[5]

The first version took over a year to complete. Munch found it an unhappy and frustrating experience, and the canvas was worked and reworked almost obsessively. Between 1885 and 1886 Munch painted, scrubbed out and repainted the image,

• 
  Edvard Munch, The Sick Child, 1896. The 2nd in the series was completed while the artist was living in Paris, Konstmuseet, Gothenburg.
• 
  Edvard Munch, The Sick Child, 1907. 3rd in the series.^[9] Oil on canvas, 118 cm (46 in) x 120 cm (47 in). Thiel Gallery, Stockholm.
• 
  Edvard Munch, The Sick Child, 1907. 4th in the series.^[7] Oil on canvas, 137 cm (54 in) × 139 cm (55 in). Tate, London.
• 
  Edvard Munch, The Sick Child, 1925. 5th in the series. Oil on canvas, 117 cm (46 in) × 118 cm (46 in). Munch Museum, Oslo.
• 
  Edvard Munch, 1927. 6th in the series.

The six painted versions are:^[10]

• 1885–1886,
  Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo
  . Impressionistic and dominated by strong vertical brush strokes, composed mostly from whites, greys and greens. Small areas were later over-painted.
• 1896, Konstmuseet, Gothenburg. Completed while Munch was living in Paris. Mostly greens and a richer palette, though thinner brush strokes.
• 1907, Thiel Gallery, Stockholm. A commission from the Swedish financier and art collector Ernest Thiel. Thiel also commissioned from the much in demand Munch, a portrait of the banker's idol Friedrich Nietzsche,^[11] whose work he later translated into Swedish.
• 1907
  Gemäldegalerie, Dresden
  until 1928.
• 1925 or earlier. Munch Museum, Oslo. The painting's dating is uncertain; some art historians have proposed a completion date as early as 1916. The later date of 1925 is based on the year of its first surviving record; photograph taken in Munch's studio.^[10]
• 1927 or earlier. Munch Museum, Oslo.

Painting materials

British and Norwegian scientists have investigated the painting in the Nasjonalmuseet Oslo.

When the 1885–86 original version was first exhibited at the 1886 Autumn Exhibition in Christiania, it was jeered by spectators and drew "a veritable storm of protest and indignation" from critics dismayed at his use of impressionistic techniques, his seeming abandonment of line,^[15] and the fact that the painting seemed to be unfinished. Many found it unsatisfactory that the key passage in the painting – the women's joined hands – was not well detailed, there are no lines to describe their fingers and the centerpiece essentially comprises blobs of paint. In defence Munch said, "I don't paint what I see but what I saw."^[16]

The exhibition was reviewed by the critic Andreas Aubert, who wrote: "There is genius in Munch. But there is also the danger that it will go to the dogs ... For this reason, for Munch's own sake, I would wish that his Sick Child had been refused ... In its present form this 'study'(!) is merely a discarded half-rubbed-out sketch."^[8]

Over 40 years later, the

• List of paintings by Edvard Munch

References

Notes