We’ve all heard that hugging a tree boosts mental wellbeing, but what about hugging art?
At the Sainsbury Centre you are invited to get up close to Henry Moore’s Mother and Child sculpture and look into the kind, gentle eyes of the mother. Close your eyes and try as best as you can to remember your earliest memory of being held. Run your hand down the back of this sculpture, pause, breathe in, breathe out.
Whether this is a new experience, or you have done this experience before, this unique moment is exciting, unusual, comforting and calming.
A recent first-of-its-kind study found that looking at art in real life reduces stress and increases emotional stimulation.
Between July and September 2025, 50 volunteers took part in the study, undertaken by King’s College London and co-funded by Art Fund and the Psychiatry Research Trust, which measured physiological responses when viewing art.
The study of those aged 18 to 40 found joint activation of the immune, endocrine (hormone), and autonomic nervous systems at once, with volunteers either viewing original artworks at The Courtauld Gallery in London, or reproductions of the same paintings in a matched, non-gallery environment.
Monitored by research-grade digital watches and saliva samples, results measured that cortisol — the stress hormone — fell by 22pc on average in the group at The Courtauld Gallery, and by 8pc in the non-gallery environment. Emotional stimulation was seen through an increase in dynamic heart activity.
Pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6 and TNF-α), which are linked to stress and a number of chronic diseases, dropped by 30pc and 28pc for those viewing original art, with no change observed in the reproduction group.
As you walk into the Sainsbury Centre you are met with 81 over-life-size figures in Aotearoa/New Zealand artist Anton Forde’s work, Papare Eighty.one, with each wooden pou at 8.2ft tall. The installation is a call for kotahitanga: unity, togetherness and solidarity, showing that collective action can safeguard the future of our communities for generations to come, without need for killing – both physically and culturally.
Wellbeing is not all about feeling happy and joyful; it is also about feeling lighter and comforted. Forde’s work imbues power and resilience, creating a feeling of defiance towards violence when we come together.
Put on a pair of headphones in the gallery space and immerse yourself in pieces of music made in response to the artwork in front of you. The SoundEscapes project saw ten of the UK’s composers respond to an artwork of their choosing. The result is an invitation to engage with art in a new way: sway to an accordion, dance to rap, immerse yourself in heavy metal.
When you lie beneath one of the Sainsbury Centre’s masterpieces on a chaise longue, you feel safe, listened to, peaceful. You are invited to relax beneath Diego Seated by Alberto Giacometti and tell the painting a secret you have never told another soul. Well, they say a problem shared is a problem halved, and you come away feeling calm and lighter.
Everyone can find a way to connect with art, be it by looking, being guided, reading, drawing or something else, as there is no set way to engage with art – in or out of a museum space.
Whether experiences are combined or singular, long or short, there is a power to looking at art that will help with mental wellbeing. Doctor’s orders: take time, breathe, unwind. It is, after all, good for you.
