Viewing art as a pathway to psychological well-being and physical health

Viewing art in museums is enjoyable and meaningful. Although previous work has found that creating art promotes mental and physical health, whether these benefits extend to passively viewing art is unclear. We manipulated exposure to art by having participants visit a museum exhibit and compared this experience to a neutral and another pleasant activity. To assess physical health, we measured participants' heart rate during these activities and collected salivary cortisol before and after the activity. To assess mental health, participants rated their subjective well-being and stress. Compared to the neutral or positive activity, viewing art led to greater subjective well-being and lower stress. Benefits for stress were particularly pronounced for those who began the study with high levels of stress. However, heart rate and cortisol changes did not differ by condition. These results suggest the potential for museum-based interventions to foster mental health, one hour but were inconclusive concerning physical health.