Artistic activities like taking a painting class or visiting a gallery are becoming increasingly popular today. However, scientific studies have shown that art plays a critical role in promoting health and well-being.
Art is found to be effective in relieving stress. This applies to both children and adults. Activities such as painting, drawing, and sculpting have been linked to lower stress and mental calmness. They take participants' mind off busy daily work.
Another great benefit of art is that it encourages both kids and adults in imagination and creative thinking. It helps develop and improve problem-solving skills. That allows people to imagine different solutions to problems. This type of creative thinking allows the brain to perform complicated functions in ways that learning a new language does.
It drives the brain to produce a hormone (激素) that makes people feel good about themselves, improves concentration, and increases motivation, providing a sense of accomplishment. After completing a creative project, people will feel happy and satisfied. This process of creating something unique can promote a sense of well-being and even slow down aging.
Sharing the creative process of making art is a great way to help students build their social awareness and interpersonal skills. This can remind schools to have students work with seniors in the community! Creating visual arts helps in transforming lives of people with brain disorders like Alzheimer's disease by increasing connections, promoting cell growth and improving memory.
A. Include artistic activities in the daily life.
B. Creating art helps increase self-confidence.
C. Art is a very interesting topic for people of all ages.
D. There is no right or wrong in the creation of artworks.
E. Consequently, mental states such as fear and worry get set aside.
F. Arrange a trip to the museum or have an art class across generations.
G. People tend to think the benefits of art are only enjoyment and relaxation.
Art researchers have found a hidden painting of a man under one of Pablo Picasso's masterpieces, The Blue Room. By using infrared (红外线的) imagery they discovered that the hidden man under the painting was a man with his face resting on his hand. Now the question that scientists at The Phillips Col-lection hope to answer is simple. Who is he?
The finding of the hidden man in The Blue Room leads to new research about the 1901 painting, which was created by Picasso in Paris at the start of his blue period of unhappiness. Researchers discovered that the hidden man was painted in a reworked composition by Picasso. They are sure that it is not a self-portrait. They think it might be the Paris art dealer Ambrose Villard who hosted Picasso's first show in 1901, but there's no record or evidence to prove this, so the research continues.
Hidden pictures have been found under other important Picasso paintings, such as La Vie and Woman Ironing. A technical analysis of La Vie at the Cleveland Museum of Art also found that Picasso reworked the painting's composition. And scientists found a portrait of a man under Picasso's painting Woman Ironing at the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan.
Dorothy Kosinski, director of The Phillips Collection, said more new knowledge about Picasso's paintings can be discovered through high-tech cooperation among museums. "Our audiences are curious about the high-tech research because it can help them know more about the paintings. It's giving them a doorway to make them understand Picasso's paintings more," she said. "The more we can understand, the greater our appreciation of the paintings will be."
