Figure 7: Étude du méchanisme et de l'expression du muscle frontal chez un vieillard: à droit, attention; à gauche, repos
Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne (de Boulogne)
1856
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne (de Boulogne)
1856
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
You see an old man’s face split down the middle: one side relaxed, the other tight with concentration. Tiny wires poke his skin, making the muscles twitch. Duchenne used electricity to show how each muscle moves when we feel something. He wanted artists to paint emotions more realistically. The wires and shocks were part of real experiments, not a posed portrait. Look up how The Cleveland Museum of Art displays other works that mix science and art.
