Berlin's Bode Museum is testing ways to focus on mindfulness in museums. — JENS KALAENE/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
Can tickets heal ills better than pills?
Doctors in Britain tried out an experimental approach, prescribing social activities, a decade ago. Now medics from from Canada to Belgium and France are trying the same method.
They give patients museum visits, free of charge, to counter stress, depression and other mental illnesses.
Pioneering health service
British doctors were pioneers in social prescribing, or prescribing social or cultural activities to improve someone's health. This approach is now a fixed component of the state-funded National Health Service (NHS).
Britain tried out "museums on prescription" as a three-year project launched in 2014. The award-winning pilot was initially aimed at older people who might be socially isolated. Now, visits to art galleries and museums are firmly anchored in the health-care system with a measurable effect.
It led to 37% fewer visits to the doctor and a 27% reduction in hospital admissions, says the Culture Health & Wellbeing Alliance, a nationwide network of creative health initiatives, in data from 2023.
Social prescribing offers GPs and other health professionals a means of referring people to a range of non-clinical community supports which can have significant benefits for their overall health and well-being. — GUIDO KIRCHNER/dpa
From Montreal to Belgium and France
Canada followed the lead and doctors in Montreal began prescribing visits to the Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) in 2018. Each doctor can issue up to 50 prescriptions per year and they are covered by health insurance.
Studies by the local AgeTeQ laboratory have shown that those who come on prescription have a measurably higher quality of life and mental well-being.
The concept quickly won further supporters. Brussels began a similar programme in 2021, starting with five museums and 33 doctors.More than 10 museums and 18 medical institutions are now involved. The city covers the cost of admission to Brussels museums.
In France, the idea is being implemented nationwide – from Rennes in Brittany to the Côte d'Azur. In Nice, a "L'art c'est la santé" (Art is health) prescription also allows visits to the renowned Matisse Museum.
And numerous research projects across the country are investigating the influence of visits to art institutions on well-being.
Is culture the new sport?
Art historian Nathalie Bondil, former director of the Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) and now director of the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, is convinced that culture will become to our health in the 21st century what sport was in the 20th century.
"Humans are biologically designed to be touched by beauty and to feel well as a result," she told broadcaster France Info. Bondil finally put the idea into practice in Montreal in 2018.
Dr Catherine Hanak, senior psychiatrist at Brugmann University Hospital in Brussels, vividly describes the success of such museum visits in the weekly newspaper Le Nouvel Obs.
"When we do something pleasant, our brain reacts as if there were a small fireworks display – dopamine is released and we immediately feel good. This happens when we exercise, when we take a walk in the woods – and also when we are moved by a work of art," she says.
An NHS hospital in Britain, where pioneers tested social prescribing and found it helped promote better health. — JEFF MOORE/PA Wire/dpa
Research, but no official ticket
In Germany, too, research shows that museum visits can alleviate depression, dementia and loneliness – often more effectively and cheaply than medication.
A report by the Technical University of Dresden recommended including visits in standard care, saying, "An annual museum pass appears to be significantly more effective than medication – especially in alleviating depressive symptoms in people with dementia."
In Berlin, together with Charite hospital network, the Bode Museum is trialling the Healing Museum project. It aims to promote mindfulness in front of works of art. A specially designed room is available and presents several meditation traditions.
Anyone who wants to participate can access the exercises via audio guide, smartphone or website. So far, you need to pay the museum admission charge plus a participation fee.
From art therapy to museum therapy
Back in 2019, the World Health Organisation (WHO) evaluated more than 3,000 studies. They showed clearly that art and cultural events strengthen people's mental and physical health, by helping them process suffering and promote the recovery process.
This is the basis of museum therapy. Unlike the better-known art therapy, it does not require any artistic talent, just the willingness to consciously experience art, according to the slow art principle, where you take time to view individual works.
The new part is the insight that simply encountering art can be healing, without any creative work of your own.
Growing debate, but unanswered questions
Ever since 2014, initiatives have been gaining momentum and museum therapy is experiencing a renaissance, says researcher Leslie Labbe.
But tempting as the idea sounds, there is still one hurdle: in an interview with France Culture, Labbé said the medical benefits have not yet been conclusively proven scientifically.
But she made it clear why museum visits can be so valuable. "When treating an illness, you don't just treat the symptoms, you accompany the person as a whole – and a museum offers countless starting points that can be used therapeutically." – By SABINE GLAUBITZ/dpa
