About us
Established in 1959 we are recognised by the Department of Health, NHS, and Arts Council England as a leading provider of arts for health activities. We hold the UK’s only national art collection specifically curated to support physical and mental wellbeing, with over 3,700 artworks, including drawings, paintings, sculpture, textiles, photography, and digital works, including work by our artist patrons Ian Davenport, Sir Antony Gormley, Maggi Hambling, Bridget Riley, and Edmund de Waal.
Access to art shouldn’t be a luxury that ordinary people have to live without. We believe that art is for everyone, regardless of a person's background, condition, or location. Our work is founded on Cultural Democracy; a democratic approach to arts and culture that actively engages everyone in determining what is classes as culture, where is happens, who makes it, and who can access it.
We facilitate a wide range of creative responses to visual arts with local partners, including libraries to enrich, empower and engage people of all ages and walks of life to improve health and wellbeing. In additional to our core work, we are also establishing relationships with other arts in healthcare collaborators to help us to reach more people using, or being referred to, local non-clinical holistic support services.
Paintings in Hospitals have over 60 years of experience inspiring better health and wellbeing through art. We are a strategic alliance member of the Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance and the Arts Council Collection’s healthcare partner.
