The Sick Child

"The Sick Child" by Edvard Munch is a poignant series of works, including six paintings and various lithographs, drypoints, and etchings created between 1885 and 1926. These genre paintings depict the emotional trauma of his sister Johanne Sophie’s death from tuberculosis at age 15. Typically shown on her canvas or canvas in oil paint, Sophie is portrayed on her deathbed, with a haunted expression, clutching a grieving woman, likely her aunt. The dark curtain symbolizes death, and the intense, raw emotion reflects Expressionism, capturing the pain and loss that Munch revisited for over 40 years.