body

An object of fascination, knowledge and experimentation, the human body has always been represented in art-to the point where, over the course of the 20th century, it became one of the constituent materials of works themselves. Whether we are talking about the body of the artist or his/her model, or about the body as an object of science, the works that allude to it are concerned with the physical reality of the human being. This section of the exhibition deals with the body in its relationship to medical science and laboratory research.

	health
	laboratory

health

Health is an issue for each and every one of us and, as such, has shown up in artistic representations of the body throughout history. We see this concern echoed, for example, in the body assailed by illness and the ravages of epidemics like leprosy or the plague; in the vivisections of anatomy lessons; and in portraits of individuals beset by mental illness. While curative powers were attributed to certain images during the Renaissance, the art of today confronts us with scourges like AIDS and cancer; it gives us a different perspective on the world of contemporary pharmaceuticals; and it places us squarely before a body marked by suffering and, at times, by shame. Biological, neurological and medical knowledge resonate in the works brought together for this exhibition, and show how the borders between art and science are gradually becoming more porous.