Death in the Sickroom by Edvard Munch

Throughout every person’s life, each and every person will one day will stand before the face of pain. Pain that they may not fully understand or that might even be interpreted as evil, and while everyone will one day face this adversary, only some will deal with this pain by expressing their suffering through a form of artwork. Much like in all other forms of art, pain and suffering is found in many pieces of modern art. Modern art addresses pain by allowing artists to use their emotions to not only paint scenes of love, pain, or happiness, but to attach deeper meanings to those works of art for things that they simply cannot explain or reasonably figure out, and historically people use either religion or even artwork to try and make sense of these happenings. It is from this pain and suffering, and the impossible odds of explaining why these bad things are allowed to happen that some of the most brilliant creativity is inspired from. It is because the audience can identify and relate to the undertones of emotion laying beneath the surface of these paintings that they possess so much more meaning than their surfaces could ever display in color. In particular the work of Edvard Munch displays the passion of suffering in his piece, “Death in the Sickroom.” This work displays a scene of utter loss and suffering, the pain shapes each figure however it pleases, whether they are crying next to the bed, or grasping the wall for support. While it may only depict a scene of pain with a dying loved one, this painting is a superlative example of the theodicy component known as Eschatological, as it tells the story of someone who has just recently passed away in the sickroom. While the painting shows the scene where someone passed away in the sickroom, it also displays the pain and suffering associated with death and life after death. There is pain in the uncertainty that each of these people feel for what will become of their loved one, and if they will ever see them again. According to the Theodicy document shared in class, “Eschatological theodicies assume that the blissful future life more than compensates for present suffering.” Which is one of the ways individuals cope with pain and suffering, believing in the concept that even though the person may have suffered or felt pain in their current life, what lies ahead in the afterlife for them will make up for any amount of pain and suffering they experienced. The creation of this artwork in itself is one of the many ways that people use modern artwork to convey feelings for situations that they cannot explain, such as what happens to someone after they pass away. Another important concept to take into account is that while Eschatological theodicies contain the subject matter of life after death, it also talks about how death is a means of ending the pain for someone who is suffering in their current life, but in the end the painful memory of suffering endures with those left behind, which is what Edvard Munch portrays perfectly in his painting. All of these concepts relating to eschatological theodicies can be tied back into the modern portrait by Edvard Munch, “Death in the Sickroom.” It is appropriate to note that the artist himself had a troubled life and most definitely resorted to his art to help relay the emotions he was feeling in his artwork, as the paintbrush is often referred to as the gateway to the artists soul, I believe it is true that we when look at a painting that shows pain, it is human emotion in its most raw and fragile form.