Over the course of Edvard Munch’s lifetime, discoveries such as X-rays, germ theory, antibiotics and contraception transformed our understanding of the body forever. The exhibition Lifeblood – Edvard Munch places the Norwegian artist at the heart of this dramatic development, juxtaposing his works with skeletons, scalpels, sputum bottles and a range of other objects from the history of modern healthcare.

In this book, these objects are given voice and presence through a diverse selection of texts written by art and medical historians, healthcare workers, activists, museum professionals, artists and writers. Each contribution takes works or objects from the exhibition as its point of departure, using them as an entryway into the complex terrain of care. The maps they draw are not the same – and that is precisely the point: medical experience is never uniform, but shaped by each individual’s circumstances and identities.

Richly illustrated, with contributions by exhibition curator Allison Morehead and by Fatema Abdoolcarim, Patricia G. Berman, Gemma Blackshaw, Alice Butler, Alison W. Chang, Hege Duckert, Jacalyn Duffin, Signe Endresen, Ute Kuhlemann Falck, Jan Grue, Johanna Hedva, Nora Heidorn, Aurora Hoel, Mary Hunter, Cathrine Knudsen, Cathrine Krøger, Olivia Laing, Ageliki Lefkaditou, Phil Loring, Olaug Nilssen, Kaveh Rashidi, Natasha Ruiz-Gómez, Thorvald Steen, Sara Stridsberg, Espen Stueland and Ingvard Wilhelmsen.