La piccola bellezza. Graphic Anatomy e Medicina Molecolare

From Friday 15 May to 20 September 2026, the "Luigi Cattaneo" Collection of Anatomical Waxes hosts the exhibition Small Beauty. Graphic Anatomy and Molecular Medicine.

What happens when comic art meets human anatomy? Small Beauty. Graphic Anatomy and Molecular Medicine is an interdisciplinary exhibition that brings together anatomy, graphic medicine, and molecular medicine to tell real patient stories through comics and art.

The exhibition explores how illness affects not only the body, but also everyday life, relationships, and personal identity. Molecular medicine studies invisible processes such as genes and cells, while graphic medicine makes them understandable through images, metaphors, and illustrated storytelling, also giving space to emotions and treatment journeys.

Original works by Ernesto Anderle, Matteo Farinella, Elena Mistrello, Francesco Rossi, and Paola Zanghì create a dialogue across multiple levels: the human body, the patient’s story, the Bolognese tradition of wax anatomical modeling, and the innovations of precision medicine.

The exhibition is organized by the University Museum System, the Center for Clinical, Experimental and Molecular Surgical Anatomy | Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, the Department of Sociology and Business Law of the University of Bologna, the Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna, and Graphic Medicine Italia, as part of the program of the Festival of Medical Science promoted by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna.