Art in medical education: Practice and dialogue

I never made a painting as a work of art, it’s all research. Pablo PicassoVisual images have a long and interwoven history with medicine, from anatomical drawings such as those of Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) to the use of textbook illustrations or photographs of disease, and radiological images of the internal structures of the body. There is a multitude of paintings that offer commentary on the doctor (Park and Park 2004) and medical practice more generally, as well as doctors who have picked up the brush themselves and engaged in painting (Weisz and Albury 2010). However, engagement with visual art as part of the learning process, to develop skills, explore practice or reflect on experience is a much more recent phenomenon. Visual art invites human meaning making through symbol, metaphor and imagery (Elliott 2011), often transcending time and culture (Schaff et al. 2011). Art celebrates existence and yet does not shy away from that which disturbs or is paradoxical (Elliott 2011). It is a means of responding to and exploring the world – both for the child with shapes and colours of all dimensions and for the professional artist seeking to critique or transform (Seeley and Reason 2008). In this chapter I consider the contested penetration of the visual artsinto the arena of medical education as part of the wider medical humanities (sometimes referred to as ‘health humanities’) movement. I review what the visual arts may have to offer educationally, particularly in the area of practice development, as well as the challenges of integration of visual art into the undergraduate curriculum.