Sorrow
Artist / maker
Constantin Meunier (sculptors)Date
ca. 1889Period
19th centuryCollection
Museum of Fine Arts Ghent
The sculpture Sorrow aptly illustrates the social conscience of Constantin Meunier (1831-1905). During his lifetime, Meunier enjoyed international fame with his images of heroic workers. This image, however, goes a step further. Meunier did not just create a working-class woman, dejectedly bent over her son who died in a coal mine. He created a modern pietà, timeless, stripped of incriminating…
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The sculpture Sorrow aptly illustrates the social conscience of Constantin Meunier (1831-1905). During his lifetime, Meunier enjoyed international fame with his images of heroic workers. This image, however, goes a step further. Meunier did not just create a working-class woman, dejectedly bent over her son who died in a coal mine. He created a modern pietà, timeless, stripped of incriminating anecdote. The sculpture is probably Meunier's first design for the mother figure in the life-size group The Fire-Damp Exploision, and was first presented to the public at the Paris World Fair in 1889.
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