The charity owns a collection of 3500 artworks by artists such as Andy Warhol and Maggi Hambling, and artworks housed by the charity are lent out to hospitals, surgeries and hospices to be displayed for a period of time. In the charity’s new book Lifting the Clouds, patients and medical staff provided testimonies about the ‘invaluable’ positive impact which hospital artwork had on their daily wellbeing within treatment and work, respectively.
According to Paintings in Hospitals chief executive Sandra Bruce-Gordon, research conducted by the charity demonstrates how ambient artwork can support patients in their progress towards recovery. In the book, one anonymised patient describes how, during their chemotherapy treatment, the artwork on waiting room walls served as a reminder that ‘there is a life after cancer.’ Another patient found thatHeavy Seas by Ken Symonds served to calm them before their frequent medical appointments.
During their chemotherapy treatment, the artwork on waiting room walls served as a reminder that ‘there is a life after cancer.’
The psychological benefits of hospital artworks are also visible to clinical staff: Wynford Ellis Owen, chief executive of the addiction recovery centre Cardiff’s Living Room, said of June Forster’s Winter Landscape: ‘It was invaluable in our therapeutic work. The painting’s many shapes and colours helped show that human life itself must be viewed from both its dark and light sides’. Artworks may be chosen for their suitability to a particular patient environment: for example, paintings of Welsh rugby players can be found on display in the stroke rehabilitation gym at University Hospital in Llandough.
Evidence for the therapeutic effects of viewing artwork is not only anecdotal: a study conducted by the Art Fund has made use of headsets as an electroencephalogram monitor in order to measure the brain activity of visitors to the Courtauld Gallery in London. Upon viewing landscapes by Van Gogh and Monet, participants in the study were found to experience high levels of brain activity associated with the release of dopamine, the ‘feel-good neurotransmitter’.
The Dutch neuroscience research group Neurensics found similar evidence of a positive brain response among visitors viewing Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring in the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands; Erik Scherder, professor of neuropsychology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam said ‘Watching art stimulates your brain on several levels’. A15-year longitudinal study by University College London asked 6710 adults aged over 50 about their engagement with galleries and other arts-related activities, once in 2009 and then again this year.
The study found that those who went to visit paintings more frequently ultimately lived longer, with this apparent longevity remaining even when other contributing factors such as age, wealth and overall level of health were taken into consideration.
Upon viewing landscapes by Van Gogh and Monet, participants in the study were found to experience high levels of brain activity associated with the release of dopamine
Bruce-Gordon from Paintings in Hospitals is sending copies of Lifting the Clouds to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Health Secretary Wes Streeting, on account of ongoing debates about how to make meaningful improvements to the NHS: ‘Our research clearly shows art helps health’, Bruce-Gordon said. The charity maintains that there is sufficient evidence to suggest a positive psychological impact of artwork on both patients and staff, and that hospitals should take advantage of this by incorporating artwork into the clinical environment.
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