Medical Art and Biological Artography

Coronavirus 2020,
David S. Goodsell

During 2020, the year of the pandemic, we've been inundated with plenty of pictures of the coronavirus, some of which are colorful and may even be seen as artistic. At least that's a more positive viewpoint! This illustration and others from the Goodsell Gallery come from the RCSB Protein Data Bank. The background reminds me of the floral patterns seen in portraits by New York artist Kehinde Wiley.

We're even adorning our faces with artwork and turning patterned fabric into fashion statements. This is similar to the mask I got for Christmas 2020 that I've been wearing most often.

Back in high school, in our Advanced Biology class (AP Bio today), we made stipple drawings of what we saw under a microscope. We were each assigned a part of a frog to dissect. We suspended our organ in paraffin (wax) and cut ultrathin slivers for microscopic viewing on glass slides. We then used red and blue colored pencils to meticulously draw dots like we were Pointillist artists.

The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp
(1632), Rembrandt

While I don't think the Pointillists dabbled in scientific art, the concept of putting different color dots next to each other and allowing your eye/brain to blend them together was making good use of the viewer's anatomy. Speaking of which, one of Rembrandt's most famous works is The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp. I apologize if it is too gruesome for you, but medicine is (after all) the subject of my current blog post.

Dr. Gachet (1890), Van Gogh

In the 19th and 20th centuries, many artists liked to paint portraits of their doctors, especially those who suffered illness or chronic disease, like Vincent Van Gogh. He actually stayed with his doctor/friend after leaving the asylum and a short time before his untimely death.

Portrait of Dr. Jacobsen
(1909), Munch

The Sick Child (1907), Munch

Edvard Munch seemed to be surrounded by disease and death, though honestly, I believe he was obsessed with it. He painted portraits of his dying family members and his doctor.

Dr. Farill (1951), Frida Kahlo

Dr. Leo Eloesser (1931),
Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo suffered throughout her life and painted portraits of two of her doctors. 

The Two Fridas (1939), Kahlo

She also painted a rather strange double self-portrait complete with hearts, veins, and arteries connecting her twin selves.

Many doctors' offices have artistic illustrations or works that coordinate with the medical theme of the practice hanging on their walls. Donna Krin Korkes' oil painting entitled Standing Straight, is a colorful depiction of the vertebrae. If you click on the "Healing Series" block near the top of the page, you'll see lots of her works.

It's a whimsical way of presenting the focus of your medical practice in an interesting manner so as to appeal to all ages without being clinical and stuffy.

At an art fair in Ann Arbor, Michigan one summer, my brother bought a pack of bioartography note cards depicting medical or biological structures done by scientists at the University of Michigan. The cards show how artistic some structures can appear when special stains or microscopes are used in research. This is an angle I hadn't thought of when I posted, Math and Science in Art in January 2020 (pre-pandemic).

Art is often kitschy like cartoons showing animals exhibiting human characteristics or donning clothing. My next and one-hundredth post will be about the use of animals in art.