The Sick Child

The Sick Child is a pivotal graphic work created by Edvard Munch Norwegian, 1863-1944, in 1894. This print is executed using the drypoint technique in black on cream wove paper. Drypoint, an intaglio process, involves the artist scratching directly into the copper plate with a sharp point, raising a characteristic burr that holds ink and results in velvety, soft lines when printed. This technique lends an immediate, raw quality to the image, fitting the emotional intensity that Munch often sought in his graphic works.

This piece is one of the Norwegian artist's earliest and most powerful explorations of profound grief and illness, a theme central to his evolving Expressionist sensibility. Munch frequently returned to the motif of the dying child, a subject deeply influenced by the early loss of his sister, Sophie, to tuberculosis when he was young. While his earlier oil version (1885-86) captured the intimate pathos of the bedside scene, the 1894 print reduces the figures to essential, stark forms, intensifying the feeling of anguish and isolation.

As a key figure in Symbolism and Expressionism, Munch helped define modernism in Norway and Northern Europe, producing groundbreaking prints that matched the significance of his paintings. The work’s sharp lines and stark composition established the artist's mastery over graphic media. This significant impression of The Sick Child is held in the public domain collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.