4 Reasons Why Looking at Art Is Good For You
- Marc Garrison
- Nov 19
- 4 min read
Cristin Tierney
Can you imagine a doctor prescribing art? This year, there have been several such instances internationally—including in Canada, the U.S., and Switzerland—with patients receiving free entry to museums, exhibition tours, and creative activities to help alleviate a variety of symptoms. (In fact, an Artsy article predicted this in 2018...)
Several institutions around the globe are actively working to bring art and well-being closer together. The World Health Organization, for example, co-launched the global initiative Jameel Arts & Health Lab in 2023 with the aim “to measurably improve health and wellbeing through the arts” and “to drive the integration of the arts into mainstream healthcare,” according to its website.
“A growing body of research—including a new systematic review by researchers affiliated with our Lab—shows that even a single session of viewing visual art can significantly enhance wellbeing, reduce stress, and activate pleasure and reward pathways in the brain,” said Dr. Nisha Sajnani, director of arts and health at New York University and co-director of Jameel Arts & Health Lab. “These effects are amplified by moments of reflection, social connection, and personal meaning—reminding us that art doesn’t just reflect life—it helps us feel more alive.”
From your head to your heart, here are four scientifically proven ways that art can improve your health and well-being.
Art can help your mental health
One of the main ways that viewing art (which is known as receptive engagement in art in scientific literature) has been shown to help well-being is by alleviating symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress, which improves mental health.
A 2022 study published in Frontiers in Psychology found that even a small amount of art viewing, either in person or virtually, significantly reduced stress and anxiety levels, with participants showing lower levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, and improved mood.
The importance of art engagement in this regard is increasingly being recognized by governments, too. A groundbreaking 2024 study commissioned by the U.K. government found a high volume of evidence for the improvement of mental health through “general cultural engagement,” including viewing art. It is estimated that in the U.K., there are “127,000 fewer people with depression” as a result, it noted.
The benefit of viewing art is also being recognized in a clinical context. Hospital Rooms, for example, is a U.K. charity that transforms mental health inpatient units by running creative workshops for patients and commissioning artists to create works for these spaces. “We are working with people who often have a diagnosis of a severe mental illness, and who face restrictions on their liberties associated with their care,” said Niamh White, the charity’s co-founder. “Here, the artwork operates at a profound level; it can acknowledge a person’s experience, communicate that they are valued, and offer a view of another world and new possibilities. In complement to clinical care, all of these contribute tangibly to recovery and healing.”
The charity recently announced a new three-year initiative to work with more than 50 artists—including Peter Liversidge, Lakwena Maciver, Veronica Ryan, and Alberta Whittle—on new commissions in U.K. hospitals.
Engaging with art can help your heart
There is scientific evidence that viewing art can help maintain heart health. Looking at artworks has been reported to reduce blood pressure (one report even suggests that figurative art is better for your blood pressure than what the report calls “modern art”). The positive emotions we feel when we are moved by art have also been linked with lower levels of cytokines (proteins that help control inflammation), therefore helping to support immune systems. Another reportsays that nature and spirituality can have similar effects.
Viewing art can also help to lower heart rates—a marker of a person’s state of health—according to a 2024 study. After monitoring older adults participating in art-based activities, including guided visits at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, over a three-month period, it concluded that time in the museum “significantly decreased full day heart rate, suggesting a health benefit in older community dwellers.”
Our love for art is chemical—studies show that being in the presence of great art releases dopamine, the “feel-good” neurotransmitter that contributes to feelings of pleasure.
Research conducted by the neurobiologist Professor Semir Zeki of University College London revealed that the way our brain reacts to beautiful artworks is very similar to how it responds when we are in love. Zeki put subjects in a scanner and showed them a series of paintings every 10 seconds, monitoring the change in blood flow in one part of their brain. The study found that the blood flow increased in proportion to how much the subject liked the painting.
“What we are doing is giving scientific truth to what has been known for a long time—that beautiful paintings make us feel much better,” he told The Telegraph. “What we didn't realize until we did these studies is just how powerful the effect on the brain is.”
Article by
Comments