Before the opening of “Vital Connections,” several B+HARI regulars who participated in weekly sessions found resonance with art in other rooms. Jill Axelson, 48, a former designer, wrote of seeing herself and family members in Fairfield Porter’s 1969 oil, “Amherst Parking Lot No. 1,” a quiet scene of bright light upon brilliantly colored autumn leaves. That and other works, she wrote, evoked strong feelings of love and family but also loneliness and grief. At one point, she imagined feeling alone in Porter’s painting as another family gathered in a large house behind trees. She said she “smelled a meal being prepared.”
Allen Abaya, 80, an Air Force veteran and contractor for General Electric, had studied the same painting, and wrote that he began “crying because it brought back memories of a friend who was with me in the painting, a friend who passed a few years ago.”
The value of art to stimulate thought and improve well-being has long been studied, including in a landmark effort by the World Health Organization in 2019 based on more than 3,000 scientific studies across Europe. Several books are devoted to the subject, like “Art Cure” by Daisy Fancourt and “Your Brain on Art” by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross.
The connection has been established to such a degree that a concept of “arts on prescription” is gaining favor in a growing number of places, including Canada, England, Germany, Switzerland and France. The idea is for doctors to prescribe — and for insurance to cover — a museum visit as part of lifestyle imperatives along with medication, exercise and diet.
It remains a nascent movement in the United States, with only a handful of programs operating — in Massachusetts, New Jersey and North Carolina, among other places. Nakagawa said he was working toward creating a pilot effort at the Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu, where he is chief of its Neuroscience Institute.
“We are essentially exploring what it would look like for a neurologist to ‘prescribe’ a museum visit to patients at high risk for cognitive decline as part of their overall brain health strategy,” he said. “It may seem unconventional today, but I hope that someday this type of approach will become a normal part of health care.”
