THE ART OF PAINTING AND PANDEMICS IN HISTORY

Pandemics in the course of human history have represented great catastrophes that have devastated countries and peoples that were reflected by the art of painters in famous works of great importance. The objective of this research is to know the illustration of events related to the history of pandemics through the vision of the works of famous artists in the art of painting from ancient times to the present day. Publications on the subject in Spanish and English in PubMed, Google Scholar, SciELO and Latindex databases were reviewed from 2000 to August 30, 2020. The terms pandemic, art of painting, pandemic paintings, smallpox, bubonic plague, cholera and influenza and AIDS. The works of renowned painters such as Poussin, Rubens, Goya and Murillo among others, made in wood, canvases or walls that have collected the vision of the social impact of pandemics at different times in human history, such as those caused by smallpox, Bubonic plague, influenza and AIDS among others, exhibited in important museums and galleries around the world or walls in large cities, representative of the art of painting, expressive of the social tragedy of devastation caused by these pandemics were reviewed.