Edvard Munch: The Fragility of Life

Edvard Munch - The Sick Child - 1907 - Oil on canvas - 1187 x 1210 mm - Tate Modern, London (click photo for larger image)Norwegian Symbolist/Expressionist painter Edvard Munch (1863-1944) was a leader in the revolt against the naturalistic dictates of 19th-century academic painting and also went beyond the naturalism still inherent  in Impressionism. His concentration on emotional essentials sometimes led to radical simplifications of form and an expressive, rather than descriptive, use of color. You can read more about Munch on What About Art?.

“The Sick Child touches on the fragility of life. It draws upon Munch’s personal memories, including the trauma of his sister’s death, and visits to dying patients with his doctor father. He described the 1885 painting as ‘a breakthrough in my art’ and made several subsequent versions, of which [the one featured here] is the fourth.” (Tate Modern, London) 

All modern art was considered ‘degenerate’ by the National Socialist (Nazi) party. Expressionism was particularly singled out, and the work featured here was given that label. In 1937, German museums were purged of modern art by the government, with a total of some 15,550 works being removed. A selection of these was then put on show in Munich in an exhibition titled Entartete Kunst (meaning degenerate art). This exhibit was carefully staged so as to encourage the public to mock the work. At the same time an exhibition of traditionally painted and sculpted work was held, which extolled the Nazi party and Hitler’s view of the virtues of German life: ‘Kinder, Küche, Kirche’: roughly, family, home and church. Ironically, this official Nazi art was a mirror image of the socialist realism of the hated Communists.

Some of the degenerate art was sold at auction in Switzerland in 1939 and more was disposed of through private dealers. About 5,000 items were secretly burned in Berlin later that year. The Sick Child was sold at the 1939 auction.