The Gross Clinic

painting by Eakins

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June 17, 2026

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The Gross Clinic is a renowned 1875 painting by American Realist artist Thomas Eakins. Commissioned by students, it depicts surgeon Dr. Samuel David Gross performing a surgery in a medical amphitheater at Jefferson Medical College. Eakins, known for his precise and unsentimental style, meticulously rendered the scene, capturing the intensity of the operation and the reactions of those present. The painting, celebrated for its realism and anatomical accuracy, was controversial for its frank depiction of a surgical procedure. Despite initial criticism, it is now considered Eakins's masterpiece and is owned by Thomas Jefferson University.1234

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Thomas Eakins
Eakins’s masterpiece
The Gross Clinic is generally agreed to be Eakins’s masterpiece.
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The Gross Clinic is generally agreed to be Eakins’s masterpiece.
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Philadelphia Museum of Art
Highlights of the collection
Eakins’s Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic) (1875); Claude Monet’s The Japanese Footbridge and the Water Lily Pool, Giverny (1899); three versions of Marcel Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase (1911, 1912, and 1916), Grace Kelly’s wedding dress
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Eakins’s Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic) (1875); Claude Monet’s The Japanese Footbridge and the Water Lily Pool, Giverny (1899); three versions of Marcel Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase (1911, 1912, and 1916), Grace Kelly’s wedding dress
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Thomas Jefferson University
The university owns the painting The Gross Clinic (1875), by Thomas Eakins, which depicts Gross demonstrating techniques of surgery in front of a roomful of students.
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The university owns the painting The Gross Clinic (1875), by Thomas Eakins, which depicts Gross demonstrating techniques of surgery in front of a roomful of students.
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