Kathe Kollwitz

Kathe Kollwitz's work is very haunting and bold. Her work captures the emotion of her subjects with such realism that one can almost feel the pain and suffering radiating off the pages.

She sufferred many tragedies in her life, including the death of her son, grandson and younger brother. These deaths seemed to have definately had an impact on her work as it is usually the subject of her drawings and prints.
In this drawing, she is showing a happy moment between mother and child, rather than horrifying and sad moments as she would usually create. The happiness seems almost fake and does not have as much impact as her drawings portraying a darker subject. Did she intend to make the feelings of the above drawing fake? Or did her feelings of fear about death have a greater impact on her psyche and thus make her drawings about death more prominent?
Here in The Sacrifice, a mother appears to be sacrificing her child. Given the time it was painted, she may have been referencing the sacrafice of her children to war.
As a mother myself, the thought of loosing a child is my worst nightmare and biggest fear. I can see how the worry of Kathe Kollwitz over loosing her children and seeing the impact the loss of a child has on a family influenced her work.