Black Death, Plagues, and the Danse Macabre: Depictions of Epidemics in Art

Abstract

What does a plague look like? What images correspond to it? Just as visual synonyms for the pandemic are formed in the media, the depiction of epidemics in the visual arts is a recurring topos, as art has always been a seismograph for social occurrences, moods, or political developments. This article shows how epidemics have been reflected in art history and illustrates three different representations using graphics from the graphic collection Mensch und Tod (Human and Death) at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf as examples.