Dream Anatomy

For centuries, artists and physicians have rendered the human body and its anatomy in a myriad of ways, and with the invention of the printing press in the 15th century, the number of anatomical drawings and their like multiplied. Drawing on the collections contained within the National Library of Medicine, this revealing digital exhibit explores some of the ways in which human anatomy has been imagined and represented over the past five centuries or so. These images are divided into a number of thematic sections, including “Anatomical Dreamtime”, “Getting Real”, and Visionary & Visible”. Visitors to the site can also view the winners in a related contest which asked children to draw what they thought the body looked like “under the skin”.