Anaesthesia in Nineteenth-Century Art

'What we have seen here today will go round the world': join art historian Dr Hannah Halliwell for a talk on anaesthesia in 19th-century art
About this Event

On 16 October 1846 at Massachusetts General Hospital, the dentist William Morton administered ether vapour to Gilbert Abott in front of a crowd. Abott was anaesthetised by the ether and a tumour was removed successfully from his neck. This was the first public demonstration of anaesthetisation by inhalation; ‘What we have seen here today will go round the world,’ were the words reportedly uttered by watching surgeon, Henry Bigelow.

Morton’s discovery spread quickly, revolutionising surgery and transforming our understanding of pain. Six months later, a local photography company approached Massachusetts General Hospital and began photographing their operations under anaesthesia. Importantly, they also photographed a re-enactment of that paramount day in October. The desire to capture a pictorial record of this momentous scene is a testament to the important role played by the nineteenth-century artists, photographers, and illustrators who went on to visualise similar scenes. Their images marked historic moments, functioned pedagogically, or constructed comforting narratives to the public about pain and surgery.

This talk will consider a range of artworks from the nineteenth century relating to anaesthesia, from the photographs of the Massachusetts operations and drawings in doctors’ notebooks, to grand oil paintings of anaesthetised bodies – including an important painting commissioned by the French surgeon Jules-Émile Péan. By investigating the portrayal of surgery and pain alongside the intended audience of these different types of images, the talk will explore how the medical sector and wider public perceived anaesthesia in the nineteenth century.

is a lecturer in the art history department at the University of Edinburgh. She specialises in nineteenth-century French art, with a focus on images of addiction, alcohol and drug use, the medical sector, and gender. Her monograph, Art, Medicine, and Femininity: Visualising the Morph*ne Addict in Paris, 1870-1914 was published in 2024 with McGill-Queen’s University Press. Her next book, Historical Dictionary of Impressionism (co-authored with Professor Frances Fowle), will be out in August 2026 with Bloomsbury. Having recently finished researching artworks of absinthe drinking, Hannah is now focusing on images of anaesthesia and surgery to gain insight into the nineteenth-century understanding of pain and how it was visualised.

Hannah's book, Art, Medicine, and Femininity, will be available to buy at this event.

Ticket price includes a cocktail or mocktail from the Ethermaniacs bar.