The Death Chamber
Artist: Edvard Munch (Norwegian, 1863-1944)
Date: 1896
Dimensions:
15 1/4 x 21 5/8 in. (38.7 x 54.9 cm)
Medium: lithograph
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Frederick B. and Kate L. Shoemaker Fund
Object number: 1976.139
Label Text:Munch’s predilection for images of grief and despair was due in part to his early and repeated encounters with death, experiences that were for him a constant source of creativity and inspiration. Death in the Sickroom recalls the death of his sister Sophie in 1877 when she was fifteen and he a year younger. The artist did not portray death itself, but rather its effect on those left behind, suggesting the ever-present nature of pain and loss. He evoked the subject’s desolation though the rigid poses, blank spaces, and stark contrasts of black and white. This lithograph was to be part of Munch’s never-published portfolio The Mirror, his graphic counterpart to his painted Frieze of Life.
Not on view
In Collection(s)