This quote from the famous Spanish painter is reiterated by many, especially those who feel most comfortable expressing their feelings through works of art.
The World Health Organisation has defined good health as ‘the complete state of physical, mental and social wellbeing’, not just the absence of disease or illness. It stands to reason, then, that if we wish to have good health we must care not only for our bodies, but also our minds and our communities. Art positively impacts both individual and community wellbeing, and incorporating art into our own daily lives can help us all create good health.
Researchers at the University of Bari in Italy proved a link between a pleasant environment and distraction from physical pain. Patients involved in the study, rated their pain as being one third less intense when they were looking at what they considered beautiful paintings – and these experiences were confirmed by electrodes measuring the brain’s electrical activity.
“Hospitals have been designed to be functional, but we think that their aesthetic aspects should be taken into account as well,” the study advises.
Complementing this idea, Joshua Smyth, a psychologist at Syracuse University encourages people to enter the arts. “By engaging in dance, poetry or music, people are likely to initiate processes that help them manage stress, reduce negative mood states and perhaps change behavior that we know impacts cardiovascular risk and recovery,” he says.
But what evidence is there that art makes a real difference? In fact, one study has found that the length of stay of patients in trauma wards was on average, one day shorter when they experienced visual arts and live music, while their need for pain relief was significantly less than for those in a control group. Visual arts and live music also reduced levels of depression by about 30 percent in patients undergoing chemotherapy.
According to a new scientific study from the University College of London, works of art can give as much a sense of joy as being head over heels in love. They found that when we look at art – whether it is a landscape, a still life, an abstract or a portrait – there is strong activity in that part of the brain related to pleasure, which benefits our state of mind and enhances wellbeing and creativity.
So if you have ever felt guilty about taking the time to be creative and artistic, or if you were told that you would never make a living from art and it’s just a hobby, just know that in creating and enjoying art, you are actually doing something beneficial for your health. Science pertains to thinking as art pertains to feeling, and humans can´t survive if we lack either.
