Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Parents

Käthe Kollwitz

Date

1921–22 (published 1923)

Medium

Woodcut on Japan paper

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Kollwitz reworked the motif of the bereaved parents multiple times as both a print and a sculpture. She planned the sculpture to serve as a memorial to her son Peter who was killed in World War I. She struggled with this image and wrote in her journal, Yet again I am not finished with the War series. Done the sheet 'Parents' over again. Suddenly it looks entirely bad to me. Far too bright and hard and distinct. Pain is totally dark. Yet in the end, Kollwitz succeeded in capturing the grief of the bereaved parents that she knew only too well. Germany, Europe

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