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Death on the Road,
Sheet 5 of the series »Death«, 1937

Käthe Kollwitz, Death on the Road, sheet 5 of the series »Death«, 1937, crayon lithograph, 410 x 292 mm, Kn 270 II b, Kollwitz Museum Köln, Inv. Nr. 70300/06007.
Käthe Kollwitz, Death on the Road, sheet 5 of the series »Death«, 1937, crayon lithograph, 410 x 292 mm, Kn 270 II b, Kollwitz Museum Köln, Inv. Nr. 70300/06007.

»Death on the Road« does not include a figurative representation of Death.

Shivering with cold and wrapped in a dark coat, an abandoned, fearfully emaciated figure with his eyes closed and his mouth distorted by pain, sits leaning against a wall. 

The cadaverous face, hidden behind the figure’s propped up hand, has almost taken on the features of Death himself. Completely withdrawn into himself, the figure calmly awaits the moment of his terribly lonely end.

Preparatory work

Käthe Kollwitz, Death on the Road, 1934, charcoal on yellowish laid paper, 485 x 318 mm, NT 1254, Kollwitz Museum Köln, Inv. Nr. 70200/07003.
Käthe Kollwitz, Death on the Road, 1934, charcoal on yellowish laid paper, 485 x 318 mm, NT 1254, Kollwitz Museum Köln, Inv. Nr. 70200/07003.