The Sick Child I

The profile of a young girl, resting her head on a large pillow, quietly emerges.
Beside her, the figure of a deeply bowed person clings like a dark shadow.

The subject depicted is Johanne Sophie, the sister of the painter Edvard Munch.
In 1877, she passed away from pulmonary tuberculosis at the tender age of 15.

The scene is the sickroom of the Munch family home in Oslo.
Beside the bed, his aunt, Karen Bjølstad, knelt in a dark dress.
Overwhelmed by grief, she bowed her head deeply, holding Sophie's right hand.
This deathbed scene became a poignant memory that would never fade for Munch throughout his life.

Approximately 20 years later, in 1896.
While staying in Paris, Munch undertook the challenge of reconstructing this memory as a print.
The setting was Auguste Clot's print workshop, renowned for its superior printing techniques in Paris.
During a test print, Paul Herrmann, a German painter accompanying Munch, witnessed an astonishing sight.

As the lithographic stones were arranged in the workshop, Munch suddenly closed his eyes tightly.
Then he pointed his index finger into the air.
As if conducting an invisible orchestra, he began to give loud instructions to Clot without ever opening his eyes.

Deliberately shutting out the objective reality perceived by his retina.
He directed the printing process solely by the intuition of his inner memory.