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The Sick Child I

Black and blue print of gaunt girl, sad expression and thinning hair.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • Black and blue print of gaunt girl, sad expression and thinning hair.

Date:

1896

Artist:

Edvard Munch (Norwegian, 1863-1944)
printed by Auguste Clot (French, 1858-1936)

About this artwork

When Edvard Munch was thirteen years old, his sister Sophie died of tuberculosis. Nine years later, he created the first of five painted versions of The Sick Child, all representing Sophie just prior to her death. Munch later described the process of painting these works as a form of technical and personal catharsis.

Due to the great success of the paintings and his own psychological preoccupations, in 1894–96 Munch made three prints based on the motif, of which The Sick Child I was the last. In 1896 the artist traveled to Paris to experiment with new print-making processes and work with respected printers such as Auguste Clot, hoping to gain the commercial success that had previously eluded him in the French capital. There he made this, his first color lithograph, which features Sophie’s head silhouetted against a pillow. Munch printed the lithograph with several different stones and a variety of color combinations: he made the keystone either black or red and added up to four other color stones in combinations of blue, gray, red, yellow, reddish brown, and purple-blue. Munch was keenly aware of the symbolic associations of various colors, and the icy blue and stark black of this impression suggest the haunting pallor of death.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Edvard Munch

Title

The Sick Child I

Place

Norway (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1896

Medium

Transfer lithograph printed from two stones in pale blue and black ink on ivory wove paper

Dimensions

Image: 42 × 57.2 cm (16 9/16 × 22 9/16 in.); Sheet: 48.3 × 63.5 cm (19 1/16 × 25 in.)

Credit Line

Major Acquisitions Fund

Reference Number

2003.1

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/160144/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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