The Sick Child I
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.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
160144
Rights
Public Domain
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. I...
About the Artist
Edvard Munch · 1863–1944
Edvard Munch (1863-1944) was a Norwegian painter and printmaker whose intensely psychological works made him a pioneer of Expressionism and one of the most influential artists of the modern era. His 1893 masterpiece 'The Scream' has become an iconic symbol of existential anxiety. Munch's art was profoundly shaped by personal tragedy—his mother died when he was five, his beloved sister Sophie at fo...