Art & Anatomy: Crossed Drawings Musée Fabre / Musée Atger
Exhibition organized by the Fabre Museum and the University of Montpellier, Atger Museum
Date:February 28–May 31, 2020. Reopening from August 31 to October 31, 2020
Opening hours and locations:Musée Atger, Faculty of Medicine (historic building), Monday to Saturday from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. (including public holidays, extended opening hours during the exhibition) and Musée Fabre, Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Poster
Booklet
The Faculty of Medicine at the University of Montpellier is celebrating its 800th anniversary this year. Founded in 1220, it is the oldest faculty of medicine in the Western world still in operation.
To mark the occasion, the Atger Museum and the Fabre Museum are organizing a joint exhibition of their graphic art collections focusing on the human body.
Since the Middle Ages, Montpellier has played a central role in medicine and enjoys international renown thanks to the quality of its medical education and high-level research. Renowned doctors, as well as numerous artists, have contributed to this rich history by viewing the human body as an inexhaustible source of knowledge and artistic inspiration.
The exhibition "Art and Anatomy: Crossed Drawings, Musée Atger/Musée Fabre" offers a unique opportunity to discover scientific and artistic drawings that have contributed to students' understanding of the human body at two locations.
The Musée Fabre presents a collection of ancient treatises on anatomy, as well as academic studies depicting the human body collected by François Xavier Atger (1758-1833), an enlightened donor with a humanistic approach to medicine.
The Atger Museum section is devoted to portraits. It highlights facial expressions through the vision of artists fromthe 16thtothe 20th century.
This first innovative collaboration between the two museums allows visitors to discover the complementary nature of these wonderful collections, which are closely linked to the history of Montpellier and its scientific reputation.
Unveiling these works to the general public provides a better understanding of our city's prestigious past and the unique place occupied by medicine and its teaching.
(Presentation by Françoise Olivier, Head of Heritage Promotion at the University of Montpellier)
Photo credits: University of Montpellier / SCDI Montpellier – photography department.