The Camden Town Murder, or What Shall We Do for the Rent?

Walter Richard Sickert, 1860–1942

ca. 1908

Oil on canvas

Yale Center for British Art

A man in a vest and shirt leans over a woman lying on a bed. The woman is partially undressed and appears to be asleep or unconscious. The man's hands are near the woman's legs. Sickert was fascinated by the theater and often used dramatic scenes that suggest a story but leave its meaning open to interpretation. The two titles of this work suggest two possible scenarios: a murder or an exchange of sex for money. The painting belongs to a series that Sickert made after the 1907 homicide of Emily Dimmock, a sex worker, in Camden Town, London. The case quickly became tabloid fodder, appealing to the British public’s appetite for stories of sex and violence. The second title, which the artist added later, suggests that this painting can also be read as a commentary on the living conditions of the working class.