Wellcome Collection

Wellcome Collection Free museum and library in London and online. Explore the past, present and future of health with us. Do ask questions, comment on posts and share your thoughts.
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Wellcome Collection is a free museum and library that aims to challenge how we all think and feel about health. Our online content aims to create opportunities for people to make connections between science, medicine, life and art. We want to spark conversation, inspire debate and encourage you to share your personal perspectives on human health and experience. But don’t be rude, hateful or insult

ing. Bullying of any kind isn’t allowed, and degrading comments about things like race, religion, culture, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity won’t be tolerated. We reserve the right to remove any material that we feel is inappropriate and we will ban individuals who persistently ignore these rules. If you notice any inappropriate comments, send us a message or report directly to Facebook. Find out more about Wellcome Collection: wellcome.info/About-Us

24/06/2026

HIV positive? We sat down with the incredible to talk about her three things that anyone recently diagnosed might need to hear.

Tenderness and Rage is a new display exploring HIV through stories of protest, care and resilience. It’s free and open now at Welcome Collection 💘

Alt text: This reel shows Angelina wearing a bright green blouse with a red ribbon on her chest - the global symbol of solidarity with people affected by HIV.

A reminder from Regency England that le****ns and bisexuals have always been here 🌈💓 Love-à-la-mode, or Two Dear Frien...
23/06/2026

A reminder from Regency England that le****ns and bisexuals have always been here 🌈💓

Love-à-la-mode, or Two Dear Friends (c.1820) shows Lady Strachan and Lady Warwick sharing a kiss on a park bench while their husbands lurk nearby, flustered and outmatched.

“Little does he imagine that he has a female rival” says one of the women. But trust us, he knows...

Although satirical, this print offers a rare glimpse at intimacy between two women. Let us know in the comments if you'd like us to make a deep-dive reel about this work 👇

[Alt text: A Regency-era satirical print showing two well-dressed women sitting close together on a park bench, holding hands and kissing. Just behind them, their husbands peek out from a bush, looking shocked and flustered, with flushed faces and dramatic, slightly panicked gestures. The women appear calm and affectionate, while the men look completely thrown by what they’re seeing. One man says: "What is to be done to put a stop to this disgraceful business" and the other answers: "Take her from Warwick" (which we assume means take her from Lady Warwick, rather than get her out of Coventry).]

Credit: Lady Strachan and Lady Warwick making love in a park, while their husbands look on with disapproval. Coloured etching, ca. 1820. Reference: 46946i

Dear Cancers, our Thesaurus Thesaurorum sees you. Go forth and find your Leo. Discover more star signs in our collection...
22/06/2026

Dear Cancers, our Thesaurus Thesaurorum sees you.

Go forth and find your Leo.

Discover more star signs in our collections here: https://wellcome.info/astrology 🌝

Alt text: we're looking at a selection of watercolour drawings from an 18th century manuscript called Thesaurus Thesaurorum, apparently a playbook on how to live life as an over-sentimental crab. Some examples of crab-like behaviour include: falling in love with Leos too quickly, finding extremely imaginative excuses for bailing on plans, and feeling like you're burning with the heat of a thousand suns all while looking like everything is fine. These traits are aptly illustrated by some bizarre, but beautiful drawings that appear to be alchemical recipes that involve slaying hydras, riding lions and burning a flask in the fire-y mouth of an angry decapitated head.

Credit: Thesaurus thesaurorum. Date: c. 1725. Reference: MS.4775

From the labour ward and neonatal intensive care unit of a hospital in Denmark, Heather Spears made hundreds of beautifu...
21/06/2026

From the labour ward and neonatal intensive care unit of a hospital in Denmark, Heather Spears made hundreds of beautiful observational drawings.

In the process, she captured images of dads - dad's waiting, fretting, holding, helping, being there. Here are just a few of them.



Alt text:

1. A tiny baby with bright open eyes rests on dad's chest.
2. A woman in labour is supported by her partner, who holds her from behind.
3. A father tenderly holds his partner and the newborn baby enveloped between them.
4. A father looks attentively at his sleeping partner and holds her hand.
5. A new dad looks down into the face of the swaddled baby he holds in the crook of his elbow.

Credits:

1. A father with his premature baby. Heather Spears.
2. Labour and birth. Heather Spears.
3. Labour and birth. Heather Spears.
4 Labour and birth. Heather Spears.
5. A father holding his swaddled new born baby. Heather Spears.
Source: Wellcome Collection.

18/06/2026

London getting way too loud? Our Reading Room is giving calm energy only 😌

This is relaxed space is free and somewhere you can sit, chat, close your eyes, work, read, all with zero pressure.

Visit us soon, and recharge at your own pace 💛

17/06/2026

Next Thursday night plans sorted 🤝

Our next after-hours, late-night event is all about challenging expectations around ageing. Expect performances, talks, workshops, music and tours of our latest exhibition, The Coming of Age.

⏰ Thursday, 25th June: 19:00 – 22:00
📍 Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE
🔗 wellcome.info/lates

Alt text: We're watching a video of our last Wellcome Late event, which was all about 1880 THAT, an exhibition by Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader. It shows an event that is warm and inclusive, featuring BSL speakers signing and people watching the talks and performances.

We have in our collection a Van Gogh, a Picasso. And then we have this... It's an oil painting of a man trimming some na...
15/06/2026

We have in our collection a Van Gogh, a Picasso. And then we have this...

It's an oil painting of a man trimming some nails, getting made fun of for his bald head... ironically, by another man with a bald head.

Credit: Two men, one cutting his finger-nails with a pair of scissors. Oil painting. Reference: 45059i

Alt text: An oil painting showing two men. One is focussing on trimming his nails with a pair of scissors, minding his own business. While the other is pointing at their head, looking at the viewer with a cheeky glint in his eye.

Making football accessible: 1920s edition ⚽ In 1921, this fan followed a match using a tactile football board to track t...
11/06/2026

Making football accessible: 1920s edition ⚽

In 1921, this fan followed a match using a tactile football board to track the position of the players. Now, over a century later, blind supporters at the World Cup will be able to experience matches using haptic technology.

The tech has changed but the idea remains: football is for everyone.

Alt text: This black-and-white photo from 1921 shows a blind football fan in the stands smiling as he follows the game on a board representing the pitch. He's guided by the board's inventor, who moves pieces around to show the movements of the players.

Credit: A blind man at a football match in London, following the game using a board representing a pitch and players, assisted by the board's inventor. Photograph, ca. 1921. Wellcome Collection.

Subway Takes, tired of Hollywood celebrities, turns instead to history's most eminent medical innovators. Time travel mi...
10/06/2026

Subway Takes, tired of Hollywood celebrities, turns instead to history's most eminent medical innovators. Time travel might have affected Kareem's wardrobe.

[Alt text:

KH: What's your take?

Louis Pasteur: Heating milk makes it substanially safer to drink

KH: 100% agree

LP: Heating the liquid to just 60 degrees kills bacteria like listeria and e coli

KH: It's true, no one likes e-coli, there's no e coli fans out there

LP: Then you gotta seal it so more germs can't get in

KH: Germ theory? Now that's getting controversial

LP: But it's true! And guess what? They're going to name the process after me: pasteurisation

KH: Loving the confidence. Get your liquids pasteurised people!]

Check out Louis' soundcloud here: https://wellcome.info/pasteur

05/06/2026

Artist Serena Korda's work explores how women's bodies are seen as they age - and imagines a world where they're seen differently.

The Coming of Age is free and open now at Wellcome Collection: https://wellcomecollection.org/exhibitions/the-coming-of-age

Alt text: This reel shows Serena at work in her studio making the clay sculptures that form her installation Wild Apples.

Footage courtesy of Jesse Roth .

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