The Sick Child 1896

Curator: Munch’s etching, "The Sick Child," at the Harvard Art Museums, uses dense crosshatching to build a somber and moving image. The dimensions, approximately 5 by 7 inches, speak to its intimacy. Editor: It’s a quiet devastation, isn't it? All those etched lines seem to vibrate with a low, sorrowful hum. Curator: The material process is key here; etching allows for a particular kind of layering and a sense of the artist's hand pressing into the metal, reflecting the labor of grief itself. Editor: I feel the weight of her gaze, fixed somewhere beyond the frame, as though she's staring directly into some unknowable truth about mortality. Curator: Considering the time it was made, the artwork's themes certainly address public health issues related to infectious diseases and the societal impact on families. Editor: It leaves you with a residue, doesn’t it? Like a lingering, whispered question. Curator: Indeed, a potent commentary on both individual suffering and the collective anxieties of the era.