Student-Scholars Shine at International Art Conference

Laura Meader, Colby News, October 23, 2025
Edvard Munch painted his earliest version of The Sick Child in 1885-86, nine years after the death from tuberculosis of his sister Sophie, then 15. He would paint five more versions and create etchings, drypoints, and lithographs of the motif, attempting to capture his impression of his dying sister. In the original painting, a sick adolescent girl lies in bed, her skin pale, eyes heavy, and red hair splayed across the white pillow. At her side sits a caretaker, her head lowered as she holds the girl’s hand.

When Munch began making prints in 1896 in Paris, he returned to the motif and made his first color lithograph—but only of the girl’s head silhouetted against the pillow. 

Demak and Servin focused primarily on the lithographs for their research, comparing and contrasting versions with the print in the Lunder Collection. Did the yellows represent mucous? The reds, blood? How did the viewers’ emotions change seeing the girl in isolation versus with a caretaker?

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