Empathy and the art of Leonardo da Vinci

Knowledge about empathy is part of the study of artistic expressions, among which stand out works of personalities such as the Renaissance polymath Leonardo da Vinci, who was concerned with the connection between science and art during his creative research full of imagination and sensitivity to nature and human anatomy. The word empathy emerged among critics of German art as the term einfühlung, which was used within the aesthetic bias by philosophers and art historians. It emphasized the idea that a viewer perceiving an object could establish a link between it and themselves, projecting the object 'into themselves'. That is, the artwork could be experienced by the observer as if the viewer belonged predominantly to the object, in such a way that its characteristics could be actually felt through the expression of emotions, feelings and thoughts. This analysis of art appreciation required a great deal of knowledge and contemplation of nature, as understood by the German Romanticists, who had enormous admiration for da Vinci and his universal and systematic mind-a mind which reacted against formalisms, building his intellectual and sensory systems based on both his observation of nature and his own criteria. In particular, the art of painting for Leonardo was a way to demonstrate a mental discourse, just as the most important aspect of human portraits is to represent-in gestures and facial expressions-the states of mind and emotions. These are facts that German Romanticists tried to explain as the relationship between empathy and a work of art. The present manuscript aims to describe empathy from an artistic view, considering the roots of this word in German Romanticism; to comment about Leonardo da Vinci and the expression of art in the Renaissance; and, finally, to discuss the expression of his art in relation to empathy.

Integration of Arts and Health Sciences in Developing an Opera on Veteran Resilience and Recovery

There is an emerging literature on research interviews to inform arts projects, but little on opera. This case study illustrates how research data informed an opera on Veteran recovery. Deidentified interviews were selected from 280 adults with a history of depression at 10-year follow-up to a randomized trial. Interviews were used to inform characters, storyline, and libretto. Ethical strategies included: changing details and merging stories and characters to create two Veterans and one spouse as leads, a storyline, and choral passages, with a focus on recovery from post-traumatic stress and homelessness. To engage a broad audience and address stigma, accessible composition techniques (melody, harmony) were used. We found that qualitative/mixed data can inform libretto and composition for an opera on Veteran recovery, through integrating art and health science.

Opening Minds through Art: A preliminary study evaluating the effects of a creative-expression program on persons living with dementia and their primary care partners

For people living with dementia and their care partners, a decline in the ability to effectively communicate can cause significant distress. However, in recent decades, the arts have emerged as an effective care modality in fostering communication and expression for those with declining verbal skills and memory loss. Opening Minds through Art (OMA) is a national initiative that empowers people living with dementia by facilitating creative expression and social engagement through art-making in partnership with trained college student volunteers. Research has demonstrated that participation in the program benefits quality of life for those living with dementia and also improves student attitudes toward dementia. To date, however, no research has involved primary care partners. We implemented an OMA program at three residential care homes in State College, Pennsylvania, with residents cocreating artwork alongside primary care partners (i.e., a family member or primary medical personnel) over the course of four art-making sessions. We evaluated the effects of participation on quality of life and care partner burnout through pre-post use of "emotional thermometers" (measuring levels of distress, anxiety, depression, anger, and perceived quality of life), the National Institute of Health NIH emotional support scale, and the NIH caregiver assessment (care partner burnout). For people living with dementia, participation significantly increased perceived quality of life while decreasing distress, anxiety, depression, and anger (p < .01; n = 12) after each class; however, the intervention did not significantly impact perceived emotional support. For care partners, participation significantly lowered post-intervention measures of burnout and self-rated stress (p < .01; n = 9). This preliminary study suggests that a structured art-based activity appears to positively impact acute mood for patients and, importantly, decrease care partner burnout. Future research can bring more robust methods to bear in determining how to use OMA and other arts interventions to optimize social support for people living with dementia and their care partners.