Academy Feature | Art and Anatomy at the Met

On Monday, Ms. Amy Anci, Director of the Medical Gateways Academy, brought her class of seniors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to explore the connections between art, science, and medicine. After an in-class discussion on art and anatomy, students toured the Met to visit selected artworks from different time periods and cultures, including Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, medieval China, and modern France. 

With each artwork and artifact, students reflected on and discussed questions like how anatomical inaccuracies reflect cultural priorities and how ancient practices inform modern forensic medicine. Through this trip, students learned how anatomical knowledge influenced art as well as deepened their understanding of the historical context of medical practices.

At the end of their visit, Ms. Anci assigned the Medical Gateways seniors to write a reflection on one artwork that inspired them and explain how it deepened their understanding of anatomy. One student reflected on Rodin's sculptures titled “The Thinker”: 

“What stood out to me the most was how Rodin captured the natural alignment of the bones while still creating a sense of emotion. For example, the position of the clavicle and scapula gives the shoulders a slightly hunched and strained look, which matches the figure’s mood. The bones in the legs, like the femur and tibia, are also essential in grounding the figure and providing stability. Even though the pose looks simple, the skeletal system’s role in holding up the body’s weight became very clear to me. This sculpture gave me a new appreciation for the human body and inspired me to see anatomy not just as science, but as art, too.”

Thank you, Ms. Anci, for this incredible opportunity for our students to discover the historical, cultural, and artistic interpretations of the wonder of human anatomy!