Death in the Sickroom 1896

Curator: This is Edvard Munch's "Death in the Sickroom", currently held at the Harvard Art Museums. There's no firm date attributed to this work. Editor: Oh, what a stark and haunting image. It feels like a memory, both personal and universal. All those figures shrouded in black... the starkness is very evocative. Curator: Indeed. It's thought to depict the experience of his sister's death from tuberculosis. The visual language really conveys themes of grief, isolation, and the overwhelming specter of mortality. It's a very internalized experience of communal suffering. Editor: I see it. Like a family portrait dissolving in sorrow, so palpable. The light, the skeleton, the turned heads—a tableau of denial and dread. It reminds us mortality is part of life. Curator: Yes. Munch's work often challenges the idealization of death common in art, and emphasizes its psychological impact on those left behind. Editor: The scene is not only sad but very human. It’s brave to present such an image. I think it’s beautiful in its dark way.