The English poet and playwright William Congreve said: “Music hath charms to sooth a savage breast,” but did you know that paintings, too, can enhance the mood, and that looking at art is good for your mental health? That’s the subject of a fascinating article in the online DailyArt magazine. Author Nina Relf lists five ways in which art can lift your mood and enhance your mental well-being. They include fostering creativity in everyday life, and art’s transformative effects, taking us away, for a little time at least, from our everyday lives. Take Botticelli‘s Birth of Venus, for example.
Nina says: “During this process of truly looking at art, we are transformed and taken to another place, a place outside of reality. We are consumed by the narrative.” The dramatic action in Botticelli’s masterpiece masterpiece occupies our minds:“This mentally transformative experience has a physical impact on our well-being. The experience of looking can be interactive, sensory, cognitive, emotional, or even spiritual. Studies show that this repeated experience can have a long-term change in our brain circuits.”
Nina also discusses Art Therapy Mental Health, painting as a form of Expression and the Mindfulness that can be achieved by visiting museums. You can read the whole fascinating article by clicking here.
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