🌅 Viewing Art Boosts Emotions and Lowers Stress

SOURCE

Worrell et al. (2025)

WHAT TO KNOW

• A new study by researchers at King’s College London in the U.K. found participants’ levels of cortisol—the key stress hormone—fell by an average of 22% after viewing original works of art in a gallery setting, compared to just 8% among those who viewed reproductions in a non-gallery environment. Those who viewed original works in a gallery also experienced decreases in inflammatory markers linked to stress and chronic disease, and had more dynamic heart activity indicating excitement and emotional arousal, suggesting art calms us down while also moving us emotionally.

WHY IT MATTERS

• The authors say the most exciting takeaway is that art positively impacts three different body systems—the immune, endocrine (hormone), and autonomic nervous systems—simultaneously, which aligns with previous research suggesting trips to art museums are associated with a variety of positive health outcomes. The present study also found participants' personality traits and level of emotional intelligence had no impact on their psychological and physiological responses, suggesting the benefits are broad and universal.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• Several highly anticipated art museums are set to open this year, including the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles (the brainchild of filmmaker George Lucas), which will celebrate the universal language of visual storytelling when it opens in September, and the UBS Digital Art Museum in Hamburg, Germany, which will become Europe’s largest institution dedicated to digital and immersive art when it opens this spring. Tokyo’s MoN Takanawa: The Museum of Narratives is also set to open this March, connecting the past with the future by blending traditional Japanese art and food with modern manga, music, and science, while visitors to New York’s Hip Hop Museum can celebrate the musical genre’s history and influence when it opens along the Harlem River waterfront this fall.