Nature Scenes vs Abstracts
As part of my postings for this blog, I would like to intermittently discuss the results of various studies that look at the interaction between art and health. This will be the first of this “Study Synopsis” series. At the end of each synopsis I will put a reference to the study, in case anyone wishes to look at it in more depth.
In 1993, a group of researchers in Sweden wanted to determine whether certain types of art could have an effect on the postoperative course of cardiac surgery patients. They took 160 ICU patients following surgery and mounted pictures on the wall in their line of sight. Patients were assigned to one of two nature scenes (one with primarily water and trees and the other primarily forest with large areas of shadow), two types of abstract images (one with primarily straight shapes and the other primarily curved shapes), or one of two controls (one being a blank white panel and the other a blank wall with no artwork hung at all).
“McConnell’s Mill Overlook” © Howard Grill/Art & Health
Patients who had the water/tree nature scene in their rooms reported less anxiety and pain than the patients in all the other groups. Those recuperating in the rooms with the image that contained forest with large areas of deep shadow fared no better than the control group. Interestingly, while those in rooms with the abstract image consisting of curved shapes fared no better than controls, the people in rooms with the abstract containing straight lines generally reported negative reactions along with more pain and anxiety than the control group.
Of course, this has nothing to do with the ‘quality’ of art and more to do with how people under stress and in pain react to certain images.
Study source for those wanting to delve deeper:
Ulrich, RS, Lunden, O, and Eltinge, JL: “Effects of Exposure to Nature and Abstract Pictures on Patients Recovering from Heart Surgery.” Paper presented 33rd meeting of the Society for Psychophysiological Research, Rottach-Egern, Germany, 1993 with abstract published in Psychophysiology, 1993, 30 (supp.1), 7.
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