Tonight at 7pm EST: free online talk with bestselling author Karen Salmansohn on her new book To Die For Life—a guide to reverse-engineering your life from your deathbed.
“My Funeral” (1910), Miguel Viladrich Vilá. Used for educational purposes.
A 18th-century anatomical plate depicting the muscles of the human face in meticulous detail.
“Cette planche représente, en detail & de grandeur naturelle, les muscles de le face....” J.F. Gautier Dagoty, 1773. The New York Public Library. Public domain.
Japanese woodcut from One Hundred Tales, the vengeful yokai Oiwa appears with a paper lantern for a head—her face warped by the poison her husband gave her.
Oiwa, Katsushika Hokusai (ca. 1760–1849). Library of Congress. Public domain.
This ruby glass perfume bottle, circa 1880, is composed of four vials arranged in the form of a cross—each with its own silver screw cap and a central engraved brass panel.
The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Deijman, ca. 1656. Public Domain.
Originally part of a large group portrait, this fragment is all that remains of Rembrandt’s second anatomy lesson. Much of the painting was lost in an 18th-century fire, leaving only this haunting glimpse into early medical spectacle.
Which truths rise when the card turns upside down?
August 10, join French-born scholar and professional tarot reader Laetitia Barbier for Dissecting the Tarot I: Reading Reversals, a class in our Dissecting the Tarot series.
Tarot card (reversal of card no. 15). Source unknown.
August 7, students will explore how cultures across time have envisioned the afterlife through mythology—from Norse, Greek, to the sacred Books of the Dead from Tibet, Egypt, and the Maya.
Death and the Girl, Frans van Kuyck, 19th century. Public domain.
A surreal sideshow illusion that shaped 19th c. visual culture and reflects performers navigating a system that commodified identity. Archives now work to reframe such histories.
Bunnell’s 3 Headed Songstress, c. 1875. Syracuse University Libraries.
Thank you for raising this important question. This particular piece was acquired by the museum through purchase, using the Indian Collection Subscription Fund as part of the Rasmussen Collection of Northwest Coast Indigenous Art.
What remains when dignity is framed in silk and silence?
Joos van Cleve’s Lucretia (ca. 1525) captures the Roman heroine at the brink of her fateful act—her suicide after assault, a gesture that ignited revolution and the birth of the Republic.
