Art in the Time of a Pandemic

After witnessing the devastation of the 1918 flu pandemic, Virginia Woolf made the titular heroine of "Mrs. Dalloway" an influenza survivor, embracing life with flowers, friendship and a dinner party.

In recent weeks, we have all seen images of the doctors, nurses and other frontline workers, saving lives in hotspots like Italy and New York. Their faces, tired and worn out, call to mind Edward Munch’s "Self Portrait with the Spanish Flu" and "Self Portrait After the Spanish Flu".

I propose a feature on the lessons we can learn from the art of past pandemics.