Description
Death in the Sickroom by Edvard Munch is an expressionist painting from 1893, held under accession number NG.M.00940 by the Nasjonalmuseet in Oslo: the dying sister sits in a tall wickerback chair seen from behind, so that she herself is nearly hidden; only the edge of her head and shoulders shows. With us it is made as a hand-painted reproduction in oil, brushed onto canvas; you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch, and you choose between ten sizes or a size of your own.
| Title: | Death in the Sickroom |
| Other titles: | Smrt v bolniški sobi · Smrt u bolesničkoj sobi · Der Tod im Krankenzimmer · La morte nella stanza della malata · Halál a betegszobában |
| Painter: | Edvard Munch (1863–1944) |
| Year: | 1893 |
| Original size: | 169,5 cm x 152,5 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Expressionism |
| Location: | National Museum (Nasjonalmuseet) in Oslo (NG.M.00940) |
| Our reproduction: | a hand-painted work in oil, ten sizes from 50 x 45 cm to 215 x 190 cm, stretched on a stretcher bar, unframed |
Death in the Sickroom – Edvard Munch
What is shown?
The dying sister sits in a tall wickerback chair seen from behind, so that she herself is nearly hidden; only the edge of her head and shoulders shows. The family stands around her. A young woman in a dark dress looks straight out at us, another is turned away, a bowed figure kneels at the front, an older man sits at the right with his hands clasped, a further woman stands beside him, and at the far left a man by the wall turns away. The floor rises steeply towards the back, so that the room reads more like a stage than a real space. The walls are empty, without windows or pictures; the only furniture is the chair and a bed at the right edge.
What is painted on the original?
Munch did not paint his brothers and sisters as the children they were then, however, but as the adults they were when he made the work. Memory and present stand in the same room. The strongest thing here is what is absent: none of those present looks at anyone else. Each is alone with a thought, and no glance meets another.
Why does this painting matter?
Expressionism works here not through a story but through what is actually visible on the canvas: each is alone with a thought, and no glance meets another. That is why the work belongs to this painting style and not merely to the period it was made in. Munch used the same approach across a run of works from those years, and this is one of them; what makes it worth looking at is the relation between what is painted precisely and what is left open.
What does the painting mean?
We keep to what is visible. Munch did not paint his brothers and sisters as the children they were then, however, but as the adults they were when he made the work. What that means the canvas does not say in words, and that is exactly why the work has stayed open to interpretation. There are no names on the canvas and none in the record we hold; anyone who sees particular people or a particular story in the scene is adding it, and we do not claim it. What is beyond dispute is the arrangement and the colour: what is painted, and nothing further.
Where does the work sit among Munch’s works?
The same painterly approach returns in other Munch works on this shelf: Self-Portrait with Cigarette, The Girls on the Bridge, Workers Returning Home, The Fairytale Forest. Where exactly this work stands among them is a matter of reading and not of the record; we state only what is on the canvas and in the inventory. The whole range is in the Edvard Munch gallery.
How is our hand-painted version made?
This is a painting on canvas made with brush and oil colour, not with a printer. The painter works from a high-resolution reference and builds the scene from the back forward, layer by layer, so that the transitions between tones stay soft. Because every hand-painted copy is made for its own order, no two match down to the detail; small differences in the laying-on are a mark of the human hand and not a fault. For this work we have no photographs of our own from the workshop, so you will not find any on this page; the photograph of the finished canvas always reaches you for approval before dispatch.
Which size for which wall?
If you are unsure: 120 x 108 cm. The 50 x 45 cm size is the closest of all to the proportion of the original. The format is landscape, so it asks for width, and a narrow wall does not suit it. 50 x 45 cm, 60 x 54 cm, 70 x 60 cm belong in a hallway or among several smaller works, 80 x 70 cm, 100 x 90 cm, 120 x 108 cm are the real painting for the living room or a quiet corner of a bedroom, 141 x 121 cm, 170 x 150 cm, 200 x 180 cm, 215 x 190 cm are for large walls and rooms with enough distance. All ten sizes are made to order; none is held in stock as an already painted work.
Custom size, stretcher bar and frame
If none of the ten sizes suits your wall, we paint to your measurements and keep the proportion of the reference, so the scene is not stretched; that is our painting made to measure. Every example arrives stretched on a wooden stretcher bar, ready to hang; the stretcher bar can be left off at the order. On this page the canvas is offered without a frame; the frame is chosen separately with our 3D application, which shows every one of our frame profiles on this motif. The application is for frame choice only. If you would like to see how the work will look on your own wall, that is our separate room-placement service.
Delivery and guarantee
Every example is made to order in our studio in Slovenia, so allow 15 to 45 days depending on size. We ship it stretched on a wooden stretcher bar and protected for transport, without customs inside the European Union; the frame is not included and is chosen separately with our 3D application, which is for frame choice only. Every canvas painting we make is made the same way, including paintings by famous painters from other periods; we write about Munch’s path in our article on Edvard Munch.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original?
In National Museum (Nasjonalmuseet) in Oslo, under accession number NG.M.00940. We read the detail on the museum’s own record page.
Who or what is shown in the painting?
The dying sister sits in a tall wickerback chair seen from behind, so that she herself is nearly hidden; only the edge of her head and shoulders shows. We can name none of the figures: there are no names on the canvas and none in the record we hold.
Is Smrt v bolniški sobi the same work?
Yes. The work is listed under several titles across languages, among them Smrt v bolniški sobi; what identifies it reliably is the accession number, not the title.
Is this a print?
No. The order is painted by hand in oil colour onto canvas; the brushstrokes can be seen and felt.
Which size should I choose?
The 120 x 108 cm size is our recommendation for an ordinary wall. The 50 x 45 cm size is the closest of all to the proportion of the original. For other walls see the guide above.
Can I have a size that isn’t listed?
Yes, we paint to measure and keep the side ratio of the reference.
How is it delivered?
Stretched on the stretcher bar and protected for transport, in 15 to 45 days, once you confirm the photograph of the finished work.
What is the painting about, in one sentence?
In one sentence: the walls are empty, without windows or pictures; the only furniture is the chair and a bed at the right edge.
Is the original for sale and what is it worth?
No. The work is in a public collection and is not for sale; we give no value for it, because we have none from a source we could check. A hand-painted canvas is the one way to have this scene at home.
How high should I hang it?
The centre at eye level, roughly 145–150 cm from the floor; above a sofa 15–25 cm over the back. Because the format is landscape, leave some empty wall at the sides.
Is it suitable as a gift?
As a work of art it is a considered gift; in the middle sizes it arrives stretched and ready to hang. If you would rather leave the choice to the recipient, a gift voucher is available.
- Subject: the dying sister sits in a tall wickerback chair seen from behind, so that she herself is nearly hidden; only the edge of her head and shoulders shows
- Original: oil on canvas, 1893, 169,5 cm x 152,5 cm, National Museum (Nasjonalmuseet) in Oslo, inv. no. NG.M.00940
- Ours: a hand-painted work in oil, ten sizes from 50 x 45 cm to 215 x 190 cm, stretched on a stretcher bar, unframed
- Worth knowing: the original measures 169,5 cm x 152,5 cm and its format is landscape
