1926
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Pregnant Woman Contemplating Suicide (recto) Three Studies of a Child (verso) is a 1926 by Käthe Kollwitz, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
A woman stands alone, her hands pressed to her face, her body heavy with grief. She’s pregnant, her belly round under a simple dress. The lines are rough, almost urgent—just enough to show her pain. Käthe Kollwitz drew this after World War I, when Germany was broken. She didn’t paint heroes or battles. Instead, she showed the quiet suffering of those left behind—mothers, widows, children. This sketch was private, never meant for display. It feels raw because it was. To see more of her work, look up Käthe Kollwitz (German, 1867–1945).
Working in a frank but emotional naturalistic style far different from that of her contemporaries, Käthe Kollwitz depicted a pregnant woman who stands as a universal symbol of human grief. Just a few bold strokes of crayon relay the woman’s despair. After World War I, Kollwitz’s work focused on the sorrows of those left behind: the children, widows, and mothers who underwent loss, physical neglect, and economic hardship. Her focus on grief and despair in this and other works emerged especially after her youngest son, Peter, was killed in the first months of the war.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Käthe Kollwitz (German pronunciation: born Schmidt; 8 July 1867 – 22 April 1945) was a German artist who worked with painting, printmaking (including etching, lithography and woodcuts) and sculpture.
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