International practice
Six in-depth case studies of how hospitals commissioned, placed and cared for art, followed by concise summaries of further institutional programmes. Information not found in the sources is marked as not reported.
These accounts document artistic and commissioning approaches. They are not additional studies of health outcomes. Source material includes institutional accounts, project descriptions and secondary reporting.
Robert Israel’s animal sculptures form part of the building’s public-space art programme. They illustrate scale, recognisable imagery and landmarks along family arrival routes.
Source record: The Art of Healing: Johns Hopkins Hospital by Perkins + Will (R-23) · Sculptures and Furniture | Johns Hopkins Medicine (R-24)
The collection includes indoor works and sculpture in landscaped spaces. Its institutional history is a precedent for sustained collecting, not evidence that an individual work caused neurological recovery.
Source record: History of the Collection - Cedars-Sinai (R-25) · Cedars adds artworks to its Healing Garden - Beverly Press (R-26)
Damien Hirst’s The Miraculous Journey places a sequence of monumental bronzes on the approach to a women’s and children’s hospital. Inside, Qatar Foundation reports more than sixty artworks, including models, paintings and interactive works (PAH-075). The building, designed by Pelli Clarke & Partners, is organised around three atriums described as indoor healing gardens. No evaluation of the art programme has been located. See the Gulf and Middle East overview.
Source record: Miraculous Journey Sculptures by Damien Hirst - Visit Qatar (R-27) · The Miraculous Journey - Wikipedia (R-29) · Sculpture record
Wowhaus’s Skyhorn combines a sculptural object with a listening experience. It can be viewed passively, but sound and interaction are separate components.
Source record: Interactive Art Helps Heal Patients at New Bayfront Medical Building (R-33)
Donald Lipski’s Spot uses a Dalmatian balancing a taxi as a prominent entrance landmark. The artist’s intention to distract and delight should be distinguished from evaluated health outcomes.
Source record: SPOT - Donald Lipski (R-34)
The source material describes outdoor sculpture, including David Hayes’s Harlequin and Christopher Weed’s Opening Doors. These are examples of campus art; proposed meanings are curatorial interpretations.
Source record: How Hospital Art Collections Became Very Personal - ARTS Blog | (R-38)
Wordfall, by Francie Hester and Lisa Hill, incorporates a patient’s poetry in a suspended installation. Other campus projects place sculpture in outdoor terraces and gardens.
Source record: The Meaning behind the Stunning Sculpture at MSK's Josie (R-39) · Memorial Sloan Kettering | Mysite - Kim Dickey (R-41)
The clinic’s collection includes Ivan Meštrović’s Man and Freedom. Its history demonstrates acquisition and long-term stewardship across changes in the hospital estate.
Source record: The Art of the Mayo Clinic - Second Hand Roses - WordPress.com (R-42) · Sculpture record
Rob Ley’s May/September forms the Eskenazi parking-structure facade. His Double Exposure is a different commission at Kaiser Permanente in Dublin, California. The original report conflated the two projects.
Source record: Rob Ley Studio: May/September, Eskenazi Hospital (UPD-06) · 1522 Kaiser Public Art - Dublin - IIS Windows Server (R-43)
The King County collection at Harborview situates publicly commissioned art within a trauma-care institution. Programme objectives should be read separately from measured effects.
Source record: At Harborview Medical Center, hundreds of artworks inspire healing (R-44)
The children’s art programme incorporates visual curiosity and playful elements. Interactive works and any facilitated activities should be identified separately from ambient viewing.
Source record: Art - Stanford Medicine Children's Health (R-45)
Mount Vernon and Milton Keynes illustrate commemorative and community-oriented sculpture. Donation, remembrance and wayfinding are distinct commissioning purposes.
Source record: Art installations for hospitals - NHS Forest (R-46) · The Collection Story - Arts for Health Milton Keynes (R-47)
The Dandelion Clocks and Balloon Trees use light, colour and recognisable forms at children’s facilities. CHI documents these as part of its arts programme.
Source record: Children’s Health Ireland: Arts in Health Programme (UPD-07)
The garden combines seating, spatial design, light and interactive features. Any benefit belongs to a composite environment unless its components are separately evaluated.
Source record: H. 卢里芝加哥儿童医院/ Mikyoung Kim Design | 谷德设计网 (R-49) · Pediatric Healthcare Design Case Study | PDF | Sustainability - Scribd (R-50)
Jason Bruges Studio’s Nature Trail responds to people moving through hospital corridors. It is useful context for installed visual environments, but its responsive behaviour differs from a static mural.
Source record: Nature Trail | Great Ormond Street Hospital (CS-01) · On the Nature Trail | Great Ormond Street Hospital (CS-02) · Another work at the same institution: Kinds of Life
Alexander Knox’s Creature is a large atrium work within the hospital’s art programme. Related workshops involve art-making and should not be counted as evidence for viewing the sculpture.
Source record: Premier unveils hospital's state-of-the-art 'creature' comforts | RCH (CS-06) · Sculpture record
The themed public spaces combine fabricated trees, carved animal figures, graphics and sound. The example concerns a complete environment, not a sculpture-only intervention.
Source record: Nationwide Childrens Counts Down to New Campus Opening (CS-12) · Nationwide Children's Hospital - Ralph Appelbaum Associates (CS-13)
The Buerger Center combines public space and landscape design. The separate Hub for Clinical Collaboration has a mural commission; these buildings and projects should not be conflated.
Source record: Most Intriguing Projects Of 2016 - Hidden City Philadelphia (CS-15) · Mural Design | The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CS-16)
Jeff Koons’s Party Hat (Orange) is a prominent work in the Joan and Irwin Jacobs-supported art programme. It demonstrates institutional investment in contemporary art, without establishing a clinical effect.
Source record: Monumental Sculpture by Jeff Koons Debuts at Jacobs Medical Center (CS-23) · 'Jubilant' Sculpture by Jeff Koons Joins Healing Arts Collection at (CS-24) · Joan K. Jacobs Healing Arts Collection (CS-25)
The original report grouped works from multiple Houston institutions under MD Anderson. The district’s sculpture record is retained as broader context; individual locations must be checked against the owning institution.
Source record: Outdoor Sculpture in the Medical Center - The TMC Library (CS-27)
Leo Villareal’s Buckyball is an illuminated landmark associated with Stanford Hospital. Staff references to it demonstrate recognition; they do not establish improved retention or care quality.
Source record: New Stanford Hospital inspires gingerbread masterpieces (CS-29) · At new hospital, art and nature aim to benefit healing (R-05)
Miggs Burroughs’s Signs of Compassion uses changing-viewpoint photographs. Its invitation to move is relevant to rehabilitation design, but clinical mobility gains need separate evaluation.
Source record: Artwork Fosters Healing at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital (CS-31) · Burke Unveils New Art Installation Signs of Compassion - Patch (CS-32) · Our News - The Fine Art Program and Collection at Montefiore Einstein (CS-33)
The source material describes commissioned art within the hospital estate, including Andreas Eriksson’s work. Claims that textile works lower heart rate or clinically reduce noise are not supported by an installation-specific evaluation here.
Source record: Karolinska University Hospital in Solna | White Arkitekter (CS-39) · Andreas Eriksson – Weavings, sketches - Skissernas Museum (CS-40) · Art commissions within hospital wards at Karolinska University (CS-43)
This example concerns biophilic hospital design and gardens. It is retained as environmental context, outside the core evidence for installed artworks.
Source record: A Literature Review and Case Study of Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (CS-50)
Olafur Eliasson’s spatial works illustrate art integrated with hospital architecture. Mirror, light and geometric effects are artistic features; any psychological effects remain to be evaluated.
Source record: Spejlpavillon til nyt hospital i Gødstrup - Ny Carlsbergfondet (CS-51) · Olafur Eliasson: Verden set oppefra - Ny Carlsbergfondet (CS-52) · A Danish Hospital Gets a Light-Filled Addition - Metropolis (CS-53) · Your Explorative Movement, Olafur Eliasson - What I See (CS-54)
Keith Haring painted a mural at Woodhull Hospital in 1986.
Source record: Keith Haring Foundation: Woodhull Hospital (UPD-04)
The hospital combines a collection with civic and museum relationships. Historical work, permanent sculpture and temporary exhibitions should be identified individually rather than treated as one clinical intervention.
Source record: Leendert Bolle Erasmus (1937) - Rotterdam - BKOR (CS-61) · "POP UP BUBBLES" BY ARTIST NADIM KARAM, AT ERASMUS MC (CS-65) · Erasmus-Medisch-Centrum - De Rotterdam Weekend Tours (CS-66) · Human figures admitted to hospital (CS-67)
No cases match this search.
Each case follows the same structure. Bracketed letters refer to the numbered sources at the end of each case. The cases describe practice; they are not evidence of health effects.
Cleveland, Ohio, United States
A curated contemporary collection run by an in-house art programme
Cleveland Clinic formed an Aesthetics Committee in 1983 and established its Art Program, part of the Arts & Medicine Institute, in 2006 [C1]. The programme’s stated mission is to enrich, inspire and enliven patients, visitors, employees and the community and to reflect the institution’s core values [C1]. The clinic now describes its collection as creating an environment of hope, comfort and healing, with each work selected by a team of art-expert caregivers [C2].
Selection is curatorial. In 2011 the programme had an executive director, two curators, a coordinator, a preparator and a registrar; it selected acquisitions, advised on donations and handled installation, inventory and upkeep across facilities [C1]. The collection focuses on recent contemporary art and is deliberately varied; paintings are acquired less often because they are fragile in hospital settings [C1]. For new buildings, the team could begin planning up to two years before construction, discussing lighting and patient flow with architects and administrators [C1]. Cleveland Soul by Jaume Plensa was commissioned for the main entrance of the Miller Family Pavilion; the curator explained that the institution wanted an entrance work that spoke to the diversity of patients from more than 80 countries, and the figure’s face is left blank to stand for every visitor [C1]. The collection numbered nearly 4,500 works in 2011 [C1] and more than 7,000 in 2024, including more than 45 site-specific works [C3].
Yayoi Kusama’s Pumpkin stands in a heavily used part of the Miller Family Pavilion lobby and is among the first works visitors see; staff describe it as a common meeting point [C3]. The 2011 account lists wayfinding among the collection’s functions, alongside distraction and relief from stress [C1]. More than 90% of the collection is reported to be on view [C3].
Selection is led by curators rather than by patient panels [C1, C2]. One documented exception is Dawn (2021), an outdoor video and sculpture made with community members at the edge of the Fairfax neighbourhood [C3]. Formal patient or staff consultation on the entrance commissions: Not reported in the sources reviewed.
Donors play a direct role. Pumpkin was a gift from Robert M. Kaye, a former chair of the Arts & Medicine Leadership Board [C2, C3]; another major commission and the collection audio tour were funded by donations [C1]. The team uses a collection database to track locations and approved credit lines [C3]. Programme budgets and maintenance costs: Not reported in the sources reviewed.
A collection-level patient survey was published in 2014 (PAH-024); it was self-selected and had no control condition. The clinic also reports a 2024 survey of more than 1,000 people in which nearly three-quarters said the art improved their mood and lowered stress [C2]; its methods are not published in the sources reviewed. The 2011 article itself noted that no study of visual art at the clinic matched the rigour of its music research [C1]. Evaluation of Cleveland Soul or Pumpkin specifically: Not reported in the sources reviewed.
London, United Kingdom
An arts programme built into a new hospital from the start
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital opened in 1993. Its charity, CW+, states that an arts programme was established from the start, with Allen Jones’s sculpture The Acrobat built into the foundations of the atrium [W1]. The charity presents the hospital’s original design as a deliberate departure from impersonal hospital buildings [W1]. CW+ describes its current aim as enhancing the hospitals and the experience of patients, families and staff through art and design [W4].
The collection now holds more than 2,000 works, including bespoke commissions, and ranges from a sixteenth-century painting by Paolo Veronese in the chapel to contemporary digital work [W2]. Alongside permanent works, the charity’s RELAX Digital programme commissions moving imagery and installations for waiting and treatment areas [W2]. Commissions and acquisitions are made by the charity’s arts programme. The criteria and panel used for selecting permanent commissions: Not reported in the sources reviewed.
The atrium is the principal setting: The Acrobat spans the lower floors, and Sian Tucker’s Falling Leaves hangs in the ground-floor atrium [W2]. Placement is linked to wayfinding: CW+ describes a tiled work on the third floor as providing crucial wayfinding [W2]. Since 2016 the charity has used a Design Standards Guide, based on a report by Arup, whose principles include wayfinding, colour, and visual and participatory art alongside lighting, acoustics and air quality [W3]. CW+ sources and an archival record differ on the height and exact title of The Acrobat; see record W-01.
CW+ provides spaces for temporary exhibitions by local partners and artists [W2] and is refreshing the art at its second hospital to reflect the West Middlesex community [W2]. Patient or staff involvement in the original 1993 commissions: Not reported in the sources reviewed.
Art is funded through the charity. Eduardo Paolozzi’s sculpted collection box, The Healing Arts (commissioned 1997), stands in the main reception, and donations to it help fund the arts programme [W2]. Maintenance arrangements and costs for the large atrium works: Not reported in the sources reviewed.
CW+ runs a research and evaluation strand within its arts programme [W4], and its Design Standards Guide states that the charity shares its findings through evaluation [W3]. The charity quotes patients and parents who describe the art as a distraction from their worries and as familiar companions during treatment [W4]; these are testimonies, not measured outcomes. A three-year study of visual and performing arts at the hospital, published by Rosalia Staricoff in 2003, is summarised by Paintings in Hospitals as reporting lower anxiety and depression in some patient groups and positive staff views [P1]; that study is not yet a record in this library and its methods have not been assessed here. Evaluation of The Acrobat or Falling Leaves specifically: Not reported in the sources reviewed.
London, United Kingdom
Site-responsive commissions within a decades-long redevelopment
Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) describes itself as midway through a 40-year redevelopment begun in the early 1990s, with art central to the aim of creating world-class healthcare environments [G1]. The hospital says its collection is intended to make the hospital warm and welcoming, to distract, to ease anxiety and to provide moments of delight [G2].
Art is delivered by a dedicated arts team, GOSH Arts, working with colleagues across the Trust [G1]. For the Zayed Centre for Research, the team worked with the architects, design team and clinical champions to commission a site-responsive programme [G1]. Random International’s Kinds of Life, a moving sculpture at the centre of the building, references the human genome and was informed by conversations with the researchers who work there [G1]. The collection holds more than 350 works, including sculptures and site-specific installations [G2]. At the same centre, Mark Titchner’s eight-metre wood relief takes its text from Helen Keller and refers to the building’s collaborative approach to research and care [G1]. The curator describes the arts programme for 2021 as dedicated to biophilia and states that the theme would inform the art strategy for the new Children’s Cancer Centre, which would transform the hospital’s frontage and entrance [G1].
Works are matched to routes and settings. Jason Bruges Studio’s Nature Trail places an animated woodland along the corridors children take to theatre, to calm and distract them [G1]. A tactile work for the courtyard garden came from an artist’s residency [G1]. An installation with birdsong and ambient sound marks the entrance to the canteen used by staff and families, offering respite from clinical spaces [G1]. The bronze Peter Pan and Tinker Bell was moved from the main entrance during construction of the Children’s Cancer Centre, with a stated plan to return it to the new entrance (see record W-07).
GOSH says many works were developed in collaboration with its community [G2]. During a residency, artist Dana Al Mazrouei ran workshops on genetics with children, young people and families, which led to The Same and Different in the courtyard garden [G1]. A stated objective of the art strategy for the Children’s Cancer Centre is that children and young people take part in developing the artwork for the new building; during construction, artists worked with children from local schools and community centres on the hoarding around the site [G3]. How patient views were weighed in selecting Kinds of Life: Not reported in the sources reviewed.
GOSH Arts is funded by Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity [G3]. The arts team includes a collection officer [G3]. Maintenance budgets and costs for the kinetic and digital works: Not reported in the sources reviewed.
Before commissioning for the Children’s Cancer Centre, GOSH Arts commissioned an independent evaluation of its collection by Dr Nicky Sim, covering 152 patient, family and staff perspectives and case studies of recent commissions [G3]. The annual review reports that patients and carers described the art as supporting their emotional wellbeing and prompting conversation [G3]; the full report and its methods are not public in the sources reviewed. Evaluation of Kinds of Life or Nature Trail specifically: Not reported in the sources reviewed. Reports on the hospital’s participatory arts activities concern art-making and performance, which are outside this library’s core scope.
Al Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
A monumental narrative sculpture and an interior collection at a women’s and children’s hospital
Qatar Museums presents Damien Hirst’s The Miraculous Journey as speaking of the human reproductive process that takes place every day at Sidra Medicine, a hospital dedicated to women and children [S1]. Qatar Foundation, which owns the hospital, stresses the role of art in humanising hospitals [S2].
The work was commissioned through Qatar Museums for the Sidra Medicine campus (see record W-09). Qatar Foundation reports owning about 150 artworks, many purchased through a percent-for-art scheme [S3]; local artists account for 20% of that collection and artists from the region and the Arab world for 40% [S3]. The Sidra commission went to Damien Hirst, a British artist [S7]. Whether the Sidra interior works were acquired through the scheme: Not reported in the sources reviewed. The selection process for the interior collection: Not reported in the sources reviewed.
The fourteen bronzes chronicle gestation from conception to birth, ending in a 14-metre figure that Qatar Museums describes as an anatomically correct baby boy, and stand in front of the hospital [S1]. Qatar Foundation lists the work, unveiled in 2013, among the public artworks of Education City, where the hospital is sited [S3]. Inside, Sidra holds more than sixty works, including models, paintings and interactive pieces [S2]. The building, designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli, is organised around three large day-lit atriums, one of which contains a garden [S4]. The hospital has more than 50 outpatient clinics and 400 inpatient beds [S4]. How the hospital responds to the range of public reactions to the sculptures: Not reported in the sources reviewed.
Qatar Museums anticipated that the sculptures would stimulate debate at home and abroad [S1]. The works were covered from public view shortly after their 2013 unveiling and re-revealed in November 2018 [S6]. Officials said the covering protected the works during continuing building work, but CNN, citing Agence France-Presse, reported that it followed criticism on social media [S6]. At the re-unveiling, a Qatar Foundation art specialist acknowledged that not everyone was expected to like or understand the sculptures [S6]. Qatar Museums provides interpretation of the work in Hindi and Urdu as well as English [S1]. Consultation with patients, staff or the public before installation: Not reported in the sources reviewed.
Qatar Foundation endowed the construction of the hospital [S4]. Qatar Foundation offers guided Art Trail tours of the artworks at Education City [S3], and lists a guided Art Trail tour of Sidra Medicine’s own collection [S5]. Who is responsible for the care of the interior collection: Not reported in the sources reviewed. Maintenance arrangements for the outdoor bronzes: Not reported in the sources reviewed.
Evaluation of the sculptures or the interior collection: Not reported in the sources reviewed. See also the Gulf and Middle East overview.
Rochester, Minnesota, United States
Governance, themes and stewardship over seven decades
Mayo Clinic’s alumni association traces the integration of art to the belief of the Mayo brothers that buildings should be beautiful inside and out for staff and patients [M1]. When the clinic expanded in the 1950s, there was concern that a functional modern building would feel sterile; an art programme was proposed to integrate art with the architecture [M1].
The chair of the Board of Governors, Samuel F. Haines, was asked to establish an “Art and Ornamentation Program”, advised by artists and architects [M1]. A theme, “Mirror to Man”, was set, with sub-themes such as “Man and Home”, “Man’s Desire for Knowledge” and “Man and Companionship”; much of the work was carried out by the Minneapolis sculptor and art educator Warren T. Mosman, whose view was that art should be geared towards people [M1]. Selected artists were invited to Rochester, and their sketches were approved by the Building Committee and the Board of Governors [M1]. In the early 1970s a formal Mayo Foundation Art Program replaced the theme with a pluralistic approach, acquiring contemporary work and accepting donations [M1].
“Centres of interest” were built into the diagnostic building so that patients and visitors could study art while waiting and staff had a pleasant working environment [M1]. Ivan Meštrović’s Man and Freedom, a 28-foot bronze, hung on the north face of the Mayo Building for 44 years before it was moved in August 2000 into the atrium of the Gonda Building [M1]. A series of four sculptures, Man and Achievement, remains on the building’s east wall, and a further installation, Man and Recreation, was approved for the south wall when a nine-floor extension was agreed in 1966 [M1]. Earlier, the 1928 Plummer Building had used craftsmen for its carved sandstone, painted ceilings and bronze doors [M1].
For the children’s hospital built in 1995, drawings by thousands of schoolchildren, hospitalised children and their siblings were collected, and more than 1,500 were transferred to tiles for new paediatric and intensive care units opened in 1996 [M1]. Patient involvement in the selection of the major sculptures: Not reported in the sources reviewed.
The clinic displays donated works, such as thirteen Chihuly chandeliers in the Gonda Building, and uses funding to commission new works [M1]. Acquiring contemporary pieces was described as more budget-friendly [M1]. In the wider health system, Luther Hospital in Eau Claire acquired more than 300 works by regional artists in the 1990s [M1]. Volunteers give hour-long art tours on weekdays in Rochester, art booklets are available at welcome desks, and the artworks are accompanied by live music and related events for patients, visitors and staff [M1]. Costs of relocating Man and Freedom and routine maintenance: Not reported in the sources reviewed.
Evaluation of the collection or of individual sculptures: Not reported in the sources reviewed.
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
A published arts-in-health strategy with First Nations and multicultural co-design
The redevelopment’s health and arts strategy aims to create a culturally safe and welcoming space for patients, staff and visitors [L3]. The redevelopment agency describes the co-designed artworks as bringing connection to Country, cultural safety and joy to people using the new building [L7]. The project director said the art was intended to welcome everyone from the entry to the clinical areas into a culturally safe environment [L1].
City People describes three years of co-design with Aboriginal elders, clinical staff and local community groups. Venessa Possum was engaged as Aboriginal Creative Producer, with ZAKPAGE, Barahanos Byrne and Leanne Watson Redpath as artist facilitators; Sarah Wang is credited in the project team [L4].
A digital artwork and a suspended sculpture, together titled Burbangana, occupy the foyer of the new building at the main hospital entry [L2]; the agency describes them as a celebration of Country and a warm welcome, especially to First Nations families [L5]. The first series also included wall graphics across four floors of patient and public spaces [L3]. Works by local multicultural artists appear throughout the building, including the neonatal intensive care unit and birthing suites [L1]. Flowers of Gandangara by Bibi Barba, on the new car park, was developed with Aboriginal Elders, the local community and the project architects [L6].
The First Nations creative team ZakPage co-designed Burbangana with local Aboriginal community members and traditional knowledge holders; the title is a Dharag word meaning “take hold of my hand and help me up” [L2]. The project team and clinicians took part in a Walk on Country with the Gandangara Local Aboriginal Land Council [L6]. Multicultural leaders set the themes of a community art project, and four local artists from migrant and refugee backgrounds created wall graphics and installations [L2].
The art was delivered within the government-funded redevelopment [L1]. The art budget and maintenance arrangements: Not reported in the sources reviewed.
Evaluation of the artworks: Not reported in the sources reviewed. The 2024–2029 strategy covers the next phase [L3]. In July 2026 an artwork by Kevser Ugurlu, painted in watercolour and gouache and arranged around a large arch, was unveiled in the paediatric area of the redeveloped emergency department; the artist described it as a comforting distraction for children who may feel anxious in hospital [L8]. These are the artist’s aims, not measured effects.