Description
The Dead Mother by Edvard Munch is a symbolist painting from 1899, held under accession number 377-1918/2 by the Kunsthalle Bremen: a small girl stands in the foreground covering both her ears with her hands, and behind her a dead woman lies on the bed. 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 thirteen sizes or a size of your own.
| Title: | The Dead Mother |
| Other titles: | Das Kind und der Tod · Die tote Mutter · La madre morta · A halott anya · Mrtva mati |
| Painter: | Edvard Munch (1863–1944) |
| Year: | 1899 |
| Original size: | 90 cm x 100 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Symbolism |
| Location: | Kunsthalle Bremen (inv. no. 377-1918/2), gift of the Galerieverein 1918 |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted work in oil, 13 sizes from 40 x 45 cm to 180 x 200 cm, custom on request |
The Dead Mother – Edvard Munch
What is shown?
The girl stands at the centre, turned directly towards the viewer. Her hair is light yellow and short, her eyes large, blue and wide open, her mouth closed. She wears a white, or rather cream, pinafore over a light dress with puffed sleeves, dark blue stockings and dark shoes. Her hands are raised to both ears, her elbows spread to either side; this one gesture carries the whole painting. The girl does not cry and does not scream; her face is unmoving, which makes the scene heavier still. Behind her the bed and the lying figure stretch away to the right. Neither person can be identified; there are no names on the canvas, so we do not name them.
What is painted on the original?
The woman lies with her head on a white pillow, turned in profile; her face is a pale grey-green and her hair is covered by a dark cap. The bed and the wall behind it are a quiet sage green, mottled and restless, and a red-brown line runs along the bed’s edge. The floor in the foreground is a strong rust orange and takes up almost a third of the canvas, separating the viewer from the scene. The bed is set diagonally and leads the eye into depth. The colour is laid on thin and dry, and the weave of the canvas shows through in places. The green wall is built from short, crossing strokes that do not merge into an even plane, and that restlessness gives the background its flicker; the girl is painted more smoothly and with more substance than anything else, and so steps forward physically as well.
Why does this painting matter?
Symbolism works here through a single gesture and through a distance. Mother and child do not touch: one lies and is absent, the other stands and looks out. The gesture of hands at the ears means that something is happening which we neither see nor hear, and it is that absent sound which fills the scene. This is why the work appears in surveys of the late nineteenth century as an example of painting that shows an event by leaving it out. As a symbolist work it stands close to the Munch motif that became his best known, since the same gesture of hands at the head returns there.
What does the painting mean?
The title says who is lying there; the canvas says only how the child standing beside her looks. The girl looks straight at the viewer and not at the bed, and by that alone the viewer becomes the one the scene is addressed to. Nothing in the painting explains what has happened; only the posture is explained. We keep to what is visible: two figures in one room who are not in contact, and a single gesture answering something outside the canvas. Anyone who sees particular people or a particular family story in the figures is adding it; the canvas does not confirm it, and we name neither of them.
Where does The Dead Mother sit among Munch’s works?
The same room and the same event, only with more people present, are in Death in the Sickroom; there the child is one among many, here she is alone. The child in the bed, still living, arrives with The Sick Child. The hands at the head and the face turned straight out return in The Scream, and the same unrest in Anxiety. Our reproduction follows the Kunsthalle Bremen version, inv. no. 377-1918/2, and no other; the record also carries the work under the title Das Kind und der Tod. We could not read this institution’s record on its own page in the course of this job, so it is cited here without a link to it. 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: the green wall to begin with, then the bed and the lying figure, and last the girl and the orange floor. The wall is the hardest part: it is made of short, crossing strokes that must not merge into an even plane, or the background settles and the scene loses its tension. The girl’s face is the second demanding part: unmoving and yet not empty. Because every hand-painted copy is made for its own order, no two match down to the detail, and small differences in the laying-on are a mark of the human hand and not a fault.
Which size for which wall?
If you are unsure: 90 x 100 cm. That is at once the size closest to the proportion of the original, which measures 90 x 100 cm, and the only one at which the work stands life-size. The format is upright and almost square, and a quiet wall without pattern suits it. The 40 x 45, 50 x 55 and 60 x 65 cm sizes belong in a hallway or among several smaller works; 70 x 80 and 80 x 90 cm sit well above a chest of drawers; 90 x 100, 100 x 110 and 110 x 120 cm are the real painting for the living room or a quiet corner of a bedroom; 130 x 145, 140 x 155, 150 x 165, 160 x 180 and 180 x 200 cm are for large walls and rooms with enough distance. Because the scene is a heavy one, a large size makes it heavier still. All thirteen 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 thirteen sizes suits your wall, we paint to your measurements and keep the proportion of the reference, so the girl stays at the centre and the bed is not compressed; 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: gold, silver, black, white and natural wood. 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, so allow 15 to 45 days depending on size. We ship it stretched and protected for transport, without customs inside the European Union. Before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval, and our returns policy applies to every order. 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 the Kunsthalle Bremen, under accession number 377-1918/2; it entered the collection in 1918 as a gift of the Galerieverein.
Why is there no link to the museum here?
Because we could not read this institution’s record on its own page in the course of this job. We would rather give the detail without a link than link a page we have not read.
Who are the people in it?
Nobody by name. There are no names on the canvas, and none in the record we hold; they are nameless figures, and the title says only what the scene shows.
Why does the girl cover her ears?
Because that is how it is painted on the original. The gesture answers something that cannot be seen on the canvas and is the central stroke of the work, so we reproduce it faithfully.
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 90 x 100 cm size is both the recommended one and the life-size one; for other walls see the guide above.
Why does the work have more than one title?
Because the record also carries it as Das Kind und der Tod. When you look for the original, it is the accession number that identifies it reliably, not the title.
Can I have a size that is not 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.
Is the original for sale?
No. The work is in a public collection; a hand-painted canvas is the one way to have this scene at home.
Is it suitable as a gift?
It is a demanding gift with heavy subject matter and does not suit everyone; know the recipient well. At 60 x 65 and 70 x 80 cm it arrives stretched and ready to hang. If you would rather leave the choice to them, a gift voucher is available.
- Subject: a small girl covers both her ears with her hands, and behind her a dead woman lies on the bed
- Original: oil on canvas, 1899, 90 x 100 cm, Kunsthalle Bremen, inv. no. 377-1918/2, gift of the Galerieverein 1918
- Ours: a hand-painted work in oil, thirteen sizes from 40 x 45 to 180 x 200 cm, stretched on a stretcher bar, unframed
- Worth knowing: the girl does not cry and does not scream – her face is unmoving, which makes the scene heavier still
