Looking At Art Helps The Brain

Art is a truly wonderful thing to look at. It soothes the mind and relaxes the soul. Art takes us somewhere where we weren’t before or it takes us back to somewhere familiar. It builds strong emotions within us and makes us think deeply about what we are looking at. We all react differently to art, but there is no doubt that it has a huge impact on our life, our intellect and our outlook on life. It affects our brain like nothing else and conjures up thoughts that stay with us for the rest of our lives.

Increases Blood Flow.

When we look at art, we are forever trying to find the representations of a human and if we look at a painting long enough, the brain will begin to find patterns and familiarity in what we are looking at. Every time you look at a painting in an art gallery for example, the mind is trying to see something else that you didn’t notice before and it’s trying to make sense of all those shapes or all those mesmerising colours. Just by looking at a beautiful picture hanging on the wall in your home, blood flow increases up to ten per cent more which is similar to what happens when you look at someone you really love.

Compare and Contrast.

Your brain’s reaction to art is only the first step. If you want to understand art and really try to work out what it’s saying toy you ask yourself some questions like, -What am I looking at? – What am I missing?- What does the art represent? and what does it tell me about the artist? Then talk about it with colleagues and friends and compare their thoughts to yours. It really is very rewarding and really gets the brain working.

Observe and Analyse.

Observing art regularly by going to the local art gallery will help you improve your ability to analyse something better and will assist you with solving daily problems in your working and personal life. Many galleries have an open-door policy where you can walk in for free and you might have the opportunity to buy some art that you love. Similarly, you can go online and view art in the form of pictures and study them with your analytical eyes. You may even see something you would like to have for yourself.

Improving Brain Function.

Many people say that beauty is very much in the eye of the beholder and we all look at something and see something completely different from what others are looking at. This is true for most things, but there is no ambiguity when it comes to arts. The correlation between art and our brainpower is not up for dispute, it is proven by the hard facts of science.

Taking in an interest in looking at and buying art is a great way to improve brain function and it stays with you for life. When you are up for some brain exercise, pop into your local art gallery or go online and have a look at some real masterpieces.