Wednesday, May 4, 2022

Depicting Grief in Art: Edvard Munch

Norwegian expressionist painter Edvard Munch (1863-1944) is best known for his iconic work "The Scream", but for those of us who are struggling with grief, there's another one of his works that deserves mention: "Death in the Sickroom", painted sometime around 1896.  Munch's inspiration for the painting was traced back to his sister Sophie, who died from tuberculosis in 1877 at the age of 15.


Munch was known to have struggled with depression and anxiety throughout his life.  His depiction shows us that grief can be both a collective and, simultaneously, a profoundly individual, and even isolating experience.

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Words of Comfort: from the Spirituality Subreddit

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