The Sick Child Auction History

Edvard Munch painted The Sick Child in 1885–86; it debuted at the Autumn Exhibition in Kristiania (Oslo) in 1886 under the title “Study” [1][2].

In the late 1880s–1890s the work circulated within Munch’s Oslo circle (Christian and Oda Krohg; collector Olaf Schou; lawyer Harald Nørregaard). Museum records describe a disputed chain of title that culminated in a 1914 Supreme Court ruling granting Nørregaard disposal rights [2]. A contemporaneous draft letter from Nørregaard to Schou reports that Schou paid 1,000 kroner for the original and, because Oda Krohg wished to keep it, commissioned a copy for an additional 500 kroner—transactions that later fed into litigation [3].

In 1931, by exchange with then‑owner Oda Krohg, the National Gallery (now Nasjonalmuseet) secured the 1885–86 original (inv. NG.M.00839), where it has remained ever since [1][2]. No evidence indicates the painting has ever appeared at public auction [1][2].

The Sick Child (1885–86) has no public auction record; its market significance rests on early private transactions and a decisive institutional exchange in 1931 that placed the first version of this key motif in Norway’s national collection [1][2]. The museum’s acceptance of the 1885–86 canvas—trading for it when a later, 1896 version was on hand—signaled a curatorial and national priority for the seminal original, effectively taking it off the market and confirming its canonical status in Munch’s oeuvre [1][2].

Before that point, the painting moved within an intimate Oslo network. A draft letter by Munch’s lawyer Harald Nørregaard records that collector Olaf Schou paid 1,000 kroner for the original and, when Oda Krohg wished to keep it, ordered a copy for 500 kroner—evidence of demand and the complexities of title that led to court action. In 1914, Norway’s Supreme Court granted Nørregaard disposal rights, clarifying but not entirely resolving disputes that had accumulated around the picture [2][3]. These figures are historical price signals from correspondence, not public auction outcomes.

Contextually, Munch’s market has reached blue-chip heights: a 1895 pastel of The Scream achieved $119.9m at Sotheby’s in 2012, a then world auction record [5], and Girls on the Bridge (1902) realized $54.5m in 2016 [6]. The Sick Child motif itself attracted major institutional attention: the National Gallery received a later (1896) version in 1909 via Olaf Schou’s gift [1][2], and Gothenburg Museum of Art purchased that 1896 version in 1933 for 18,000 Swedish kronor [4]. Together, these milestones explain why the 1885–86 original lacks an auction trail: it was enshrined early in a national museum, while broader Munch prices—and records—were set by other works and versions.