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Herbert Esche ran a textile business in Chemnitz in Saxony, and in 1902 and 1903 he had the Belgian architect Henry van de Velde build and furnish a house for him down to the fittings. Van de Velde then told him which painter should do the family, and in 1905 Munch came to stay. He stalled for weeks. Once he started, by the account of the household, he painted this large group of the two children along with several other portraits in about four days. Six pictures of the Esches came out of that visit, the parents and each of the children. They stayed with the family for most of a century, until in 1997 the heirs placed them in a foundation housed at the Kunsthaus Zurich.