On View

Grimms' Anatomy

Special Exhibition

Mütter Museum

On Display Now!

Magic and Medicine

The bodies of fairy-tale characters are rarely ordinary. They may be injured through acts of violence, healed or harmed by medicinal potions, or altered by magical transformations. Though many fairy-tale bodies belong to the realm of the marvelous, some have real-world counterparts.

In honor of the two-hundredth anniversary of the publication of The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, this exhibit shows real-world examples of gruesome and grotesque fairy-tale bodies, along with instruments from these stories. Also displayed are rare illustrated editions of Brothers Grimm

Curated by Anna Dhody, MFS, and Linda J. Lee, MA, folklorist, PhD candidate, University of Pennsylvania