This article discusses a study about art and pain. It has concluded that looking at beautiful art did ease the physical pain of the people who took part in the study. It goes on to say this might help hospitals to justify expenditure on art for their wards which has to be a good thing.
Starry night picture courtesy of: http://www.postershop.com/Van-Gogh-Vincent/Van-Gogh-Vincent-Starry-Night-7900566.html
8 comments:
I completely believe in this. Beautiful paintings can move you and calm you down... this is exactly why I would rather have a gorgeous painting in my bedroom than a horrible television... (ongoing debate with my husband :)
Heck they could just start by changing the color; plenty of studies show that changing the interior color of hospitals has a great effect on patients. Still it would wonderful to bring it images of beauty.
There was an earlier study that showed that if a treatment or recovery room had an image of a "placid" scene (beach, river in the woods, etc.), patients uniformly reported a lower pain level for identical procedures.
This, plus the recent article on a study that showed that study of art made for better doctors (am trying to find that one; sent it to our art teacher). This article is going to be a good conversation starter for my philosophy students, who are investigating "beauty" right now...thanks!
Staring at Van Gogh paintings always kills the pain for me! :^)
Hi DC- yes a painting in the bedroom would look nicer. That said I have been known to enjoy some TV in bed on lazy Sundays!
Hi Jenavira, it's really interesting that something as simple as a colour change helps patients. I am interested in colour psychology and always try to think about it for myself when I'm buying homeware.
Hi Scentself, I'm really glad the article will be useful. It makes sense that placid scenes help to ease people's pain and it's really good news that so much work is being done into patients surroundings and how they can help the patient.
Aimee L'Ondee- yes I love his paintings too. Especially this one, it makes me want to put L'heure Bleu on.
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