Mourning Parents, Stone sculpture at German war cemetery in Vladslo, Belgium.
Mourning Parents is a granite sculpture at the German military cemetery in Vladslo, Belgium, made of two separate figures. The father stands upright with folded arms, while the mother bends forward with hands covering her face.
Kollwitz began working on this piece in 1914 after her son Peter fell in battle near Esen, but needed 18 years to complete it. The sculpture was placed at the cemetery in 1932, where Peter Kollwitz is buried.
The two granite figures carry no military symbols or national emblems, showing only the posture of two people who lost a child. Kollwitz gave them her own facial features and those of her husband, making personal grief visible to every visitor.
The two figures face each other at a central spot in the cemetery, allowing visitors to walk between them. The low grave markers around them give open views of both sculptures from different directions.
The two figures were originally designed for another cemetery and first stood side by side before being moved to Vladslo in 1956. Here they were placed facing each other for the first time, creating a dialogue between them.
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