The Agnew Clinic
Thomas Eakins · 1889
Why it's great
A surgeon performs an operation in a medical amphitheater, as students lean in to watch. Eakins painted Dr. Hayes Agnew, who has just finished teaching his last class. The picture is clean and well-lit, in contrast with his earlier, darker Gross Clinic. It shows how medicine had changed.
Where to see it
📍 University of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, United States
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Thomas Eakins was born in Philadelphia and lived there nearly all his life. He studied anatomy and photography so his paintings of people, rowers and surgeons would be true to life. His honest realism upset some people, but is now praised. He taught art in Philadelphia and died there in 1916.
