The Healing Power of Art: Why Companies should tap into this...

A few weeks ago I was in the waiting area at a hospital in London anxiously awaiting the outcome of an X-ray for a very close relative of mine who was having to investigate some alarming symptoms.

As I fidgeted nervously and my eyes darted around the deserted waiting room in the early morning hours, my eye caught these beautiful landscape paintings which I simply assumed were reproductions.

As an art consultant and someone who loves art my attention was grabbed. On closer inspection these were in fact original paintings by contemporary artists. The works were curated by Rebecca Marsham, Senior Gallery Manager of Clarendon Fine Art Gallery in Cobham.

The theme was contemporary impressionistic landscapes by two different artists, a Russian artist Maya Eventov and an Italian artist called Bruno Tinucci. Both artists use strong sun light with dramatic effect and have a bold painterly style and their paintings are very uplifting.

I then spent sometime looking at the views within the paintings.

I was transported to Tinucci’s lush sunflower field and rustic farm house, with a piercing blue sky backdrop set in a typical rural Tuscany setting. Through the sway of the flora and strong light, you could feel the cool breeze and intensity of the burning sunshine.

I then stood before two large silver birches within a woodland. Eventov’s use of painting and etching on the canvas to build up the composition layers cleverly creates a sculptural quality to her works.

All of a sudden I felt calmer, my breath had settled and I had shifted from an anxious state to a more balanced place. My relative came back into the waiting room and I was very fortunate to find that the X-ray revealed nothing sinister.

This is the first time I experienced the potential power of art in a medical setting.

Having spent a good three years in and out of clinics, hospitals and surgeries I was used to seeing many different types of artworks in this type of environment.

Unfortunately more often than not the art was uninteresting, pops of brightly coloured abstracts or great swirls of paint, randomly placed on the walls and designed to simply brighten the space or to merely blend into the interior design scheme but with no more meaning or significance. 

However art that has true synergy with the message the clinic wants to convey has an altogether far greater impact. Art can talk to the viewer, visually stimulating the senses and can convey powerful and challenging messages. 

Whether it’s just to captivate the viewer with the awesome power of Mother Nature through a gorgeous landscape that may remind us of greater things than ourselves, of life’s reassuring cycle or simply the pure beauty there is to be found in our natural world or the art is on some other topic altogether, on a conscious and sub-conscious level art speaks to us all. 

There have been studies on the impact of art on the healing process and recovery of patients and many top clinics and hospitals have used art in its wards for this primary purpose and with great effect. 

When the clinic gets it right as they did at this hospital, with the installation having been professionally curated, it can leave a very positive and lasting impression on the viewer. 

At my corporate art consultancy, we are well equipped to find art that truly has synergy with your brand and ethos. We liaise with galleries and artists to help source art that can have that desired impact, imparting meaning and significance and can have resonance with the appropriate audience whether it is clients, staff or suppliers.

To find out more and for a free consultation contact [email protected]