Art!

Almost all of us have art of some sort in our homes, but that art can range from a Picasso to a first finger painting by a grandchild.  Art can be most useful in our homes when it:

• Images to which you have positive associations, because you know the artist, because your grandmother gave you the painting, because they bring something you value about your culture to mind, because they were done in a style or by a person you find inspirational, etc., will elevate your wellbeing whenever you see them.
• When we’re cognitively exhausted, seeing art, realistic paintings or photographs of nature, can be mentally refreshing (and can bring down stress levels generally, whether we’re mentally exhausted or not). Restoration boosts our mood, our brain performance as well as how well we get along with other humans.  The best sort of art for revitalizing and de-stressing brings to mind a Northern Hemisphere meadow/woodland with an expansive view toward the horizon, gently rolling terrain, clumps of trees, a gently burbling brook, all on a fine weather day.  The trees are important because they can be safe havens.  Scenes from any of the four seasons can work.  A few signs of human presence are fine, for example, a house in the far distance with smoke rising out of its chimney.  The very best is if it seems like we might be able to step into this image, as Mary Poppins steps into Bert’s chalk drawings.  If images of northern meadows/woodlands are unavailable, ones that show local natural spaces can work, particularly if they are share some of the features of the ideal, such as gently rolling ground.
• Pictures of flowers reduce stress.
• Representational, figurative art is preferred to more abstract art, generally. We also like art more when we understand symbolism present.
• Abstract art may encourage abstract thinking.
• Images with more saturated colours are more likely to be preferred than art with fewer. The same goes for warmer colours as opposed to cooler ones.
• Black and white landscape images are seen as less beautiful than full-colour ones but black and white portraits are perceived as more pleasant and relaxing to look at than full-colour ones.
• Paintings with brushstrokes visible are likely to be more positively received than pointillistic ones.
• Increasing the size of a painting/image can make it seem better. The same goes for hanging it higher on a wall, above eye level
• Sculptures with relatively more curving lines are more relaxing and comforting to view than options that are more rectilinear and angular.
• Since people prefer shiny surfaces to matte ones, reflective surfaces can work well on sculptures, from a psychological perspective.
• Seeing thin human-like sculptures, such as those by Giacometti, facilitates dieting.
• Extraverted individuals have more positive responses to art showing human beings than introverted people.
• Also, not surprisingly, people who are more open to experience, as defined in this article, respond more positively to novel art.

A future article here will cover how to label and display/hang art.