“The research clearly shows the stress-reducing properties of viewing original art,” says Dr Tony Wood of King’s College London (Picture of health: going to art galleries can improve wellbeing, study reveals, 28 October). I dispute this interpretation as the study was clearly not designed to allow for the stress-reducing differential between the environments in which participants viewed original artworks or copies of them.
Elimination of this factor would have required study of heart rate, skin temperature and saliva in two further groups: one viewing original artworks in a non-gallery environment and the second viewing copies of the same paintings at the Courtauld Gallery. Without these controls, the study does not show if stress factors are reduced by viewing original artworks, or by the ambience of an art gallery.
Peter Lowe
Newcastle upon Tyne
My good friend Douglas and I are living proof that art gallery visits can do you good, though the coffee and bacon rolls beforehand and the couple of pints afterwards should also be taken into consideration.
Alex Dickie
Edinburgh
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