– Sneak Preview –
This multicultural exhibition is a work in progress, but we couldn’t keep it to ourselves! Enjoy this preview; linger as you would in an in-person gallery, and come back after the complete exhibition goes live. Tell us what you think – we welcome your comments below.
Countless paintings and drawings of siblings, young and old, take the form of traditional, forward-looking portraits, often by commission, or in more recent decades, images of the backs of siblings walking down a path or sitting in a park.
In our gallery, works were selected for their artistic merit, but also for illustrating something meaningful about this unique relationship. At times the gestures or glances may seem innocuous, yet they were important enough for the artists to represent and believe in, possibly opening up pathways to greater insight into the human condition. Many of these works of art are cited as personal favorites by reviewers. Which are your favorites?
Sofonisba Anguissola, Three Siblings of the Gaddi Family with Dog, c. 1555-1560. Italy.
Ralph Earl, Portrait of Two Brothers. ca. 1790. USA.
Thomas Couture, Two Sisters. 1792. France.
Anonymous, Siblings Balarama and Krishna. 1800s. India.
Katsushika Hokusai, Five Sibling Pictures of China and Japan for the Zakurogaki Group. 1821-2. Japan.
Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾 北斎, Lin Xiangru and Kojima Takanori, 1821. Color woodblock print; surimono. 21.3 × 18.3 cm. Art Institute of Chicago. 
Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾 北斎. Sima Guang and Shibata Katsuie, 1821. Color woodblock print; surimono, 20.9 × 18.5 cm, Art Institute of Chicago. 
Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾 北斎. Musicians playing Koto and Flute, 1821. Surimono woodblock print in colors with metallic pigments, 18.3 x 21 cm, signed Iitsu Hitsu (Moonstruck Old Man Iitsu). 
Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾 北斎. Sasaki Takatsuna et Liu Bei, 1822. 18.3 x 21.3 cm, signed Getchi Rojin Aratame Hitsu.
Theodor Hildebrandt, The Murder of the Sons of Edward IV. 1835. Germany.
A painting based on Shakespeare’s play, King Richard III. It depicts a scene of the two sons of Edward IV sleeping, secure in each other’s arms with a Bible and rosary by their side, just before they were murdered at the order of King Richard III. The conflicted scene generated strong emotional reactions by Hildebrandt’s contemporaries, and still. It is regarded as a highlight of the Düsseldorf School of Painting.
John William Waterhouse, Sleep and his Half-brother Death. 1874. UK.
Echoing the composition of Hildebrandt’s painting above, we find this moving portrait of two brothers, referencing the Greek myth of Hypnos (sleep) and Thanatos (death). The painting is a reflection on Waterhouse’s two younger brothers who had recently died of tuberculosis, the same illness that took his mother’ life in 1852. Devastated, the artist painted to make sense of such tragedy – these brothers enraptured in peace and love. This painting was the first of his paintings to be featured in the Royal Academy exhibition in 1874, with many others exhibited thereafter. Read more.
Abbott Handerson Thayer, Brother and Sister (Mary and Gerald Thayer). 1889. USA.
Edvard Munch, Death in the Sickroom. 1893. Norway.
In the same year he painted The Scream, Munch painted this scene from memory, of his family with his sister Sophie (age 15), suffering from tuberculosis, and sitting in the wicker chair. Much was 14 at the time of her death. His two other sisters are in the foreground, he behind them, and their brother to the left – all besides themselves in silence. Such is the weight of a sibling’s death. This is just one of the paintings he did memorializing Sophie’s passing and that of other family members. Read more.
Pablo Picasso, Two Sisters (The Meeting). 1902. Spain.
Erich Heckel, Siblings (Geschwister). 1913. Germany.
Erich Heckel, Siblings (Geschwister) (from the portfolio Eleven Woodcuts). 1913. Woodcut. 61.4 x 47 cm. 
Erich Heckel, Geschwister. Frère et soeur [Brother and sister]. 1913. Karlsruhe.
Helene Schjerfbeck, Siblings. 1881 & 1913. Finland.
One of Finland’s most beloved artists, Schjerfbeck illustrates siblings, from a charming scene in an academic realist style, to the intimacy conveyed in her more abstract work some 30 years later, inspired by French Modernism. “I’ve preferred to paint poor sensitive children, I don’t know if anyone’s interested.” (Letter to Einar Reuter, 8 January 1918)
Helene Schjerfbeck. A boy feeding his younger sister. 1881. Oil on canvas. Finnish National Gallery 
Helene Schjerfbeck, Siblings (Finnish: Sisarukset). 1913. Pencil on paper.
Henri Matisse, Three Sisters with an African Sculpture. 1917. France.
Paul Klee, Brother and Sister. 1930. Germany via Switzerland.
Shirley Charlton, No More Tears Brother. 2009. Malawi.
Look at those faces! The offer of gentle kindness, touched by subtle inquisitiveness, to a brother deep in his feelings. Highlighted by lights and darks, such intimacy is rarely seen in art. From the artist’s Malawi period. View Charlton’s other paintings at shirleycharlton.com.
Miabo Enyadike, Sibling Rivalry. 2020. South Africa.
Artist Statement: “Siblings, some of us have some don’t, some siblings bring us great joy, while some bring us much sorrow. My painting is one of rivalry between two siblings, where one overshadows the other and that creates a lot of emotional despair.” Represented with high intensity color. For sale on Saatachi Art.
