Findings, methods and sources
Adjacent evidenceObservational / experimentalReported benefit
Finding. A small experiment compared responses to figurative art, modern art and an office setting, reporting a systolic blood-pressure reduction in the figurative condition.
Limitation. Healthy museum participants, not hospital patients. One experiment cannot determine a universal preference or clinical art-selection rule.
Methods and verification
Verification level: Abstract checked
Structured summary
- Population
- Museum visitors without hypertension
- Sample
- 77 participants, randomly assigned
- Intervention
- Visit to figurative art or modern art
- Comparator
- Museum office
- Outcome measures
- Blood pressure and heart rate
- Timing
- Before and after the visit
- Result
- Systolic blood pressure decreased for most participants exposed to figurative art compared with modern art and the office; no heart-rate differences
- Uncertainty
- Small sample of healthy participants in a museum
- Design
- Randomised allocation, pre–post physiological measurement
- Sample / scope
- 77 participants
- Setting
- Art museum (Rome)
- Art form
- Pictures
Citation checked against Crossref and abstract against the publisher or OpenAlex record, 29 September 2026
Last full editorial audit: 2026-09-09 · Verification policy
Publications and overlap
No confirmed shared-publication match is recorded for this entry in Edition 4.11. Source-by-source and participant-level reconciliation is incomplete; this does not establish an independent study.