From Queen Victoria to Sausage Pants: Art in the Superhospital
Article by Tamar Tembeck and Mary Hunter, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, vol. 190, issue 1, 8 January 2018. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.170721
Abstract: In this article we argue that purpose-driven art is not only way to communicate a sense of well-being to the various populations that inhabit hospitals. By focusing on two artworks from the Royal Victoria Hospital’s collection — the monumental nineteenth-century marble sculpture of Queen Victoria and the contemporary painting Sausage Pants by Michael Farnan — we explore how art that is seemingly dysfunctional can sometimes bring the best medicine.