How Mindfulness Is Unlocking a Whole New Way of Seeing Art

For five minutes, an auditorium full of Getty Center visitors tried to imagine that they were this mountain.

Using a calm, soothing voice, Getty gallery educator Lilit Sadoyan invited the group, a mix of museum professionals, educators, and meditation enthusiasts, to arrive in the present moment and encourage a closer look at the painting projected onto a screen at the front of the room.

“Hold your body upright, still and strong, vast and wide," Sadoyan said. "Lift the crown of your head like the peak of the mountain. Take a deep breath of the fresh air.” A stillness and peace settled over the room, as if the painting’s rolling green hills had been experienced in person.

The exercise kicked off the Mindfulness in the Museum Convening, a daylong gathering at the Getty Center this past August wherein staff from museums around the country, including Getty, shared how they are introducing mindfulness into their galleries. Inspired by ancient Buddhist traditions such as Vipassana meditation, mindfulness is defined as awareness that arises through “paying attention on purpose in the present moment and non-judgmentally,” according to Jon Kabat-Zinn, a champion of the practice in the West since the 1970s. It’s used to help manage emotions and thoughts and appreciate the here and now. And as demonstrated during the event, it can also foster deeper connections to works of art.

“We’re finding effective ways in which we can integrate what mindfulness has to offer to the art experience so that it really deepens the experience of both,” Sadoyan said.

Exploring Mindfulness

The Getty Museum’s exploration into mindfulness began in 2015 with a program called Mindfulness with a Masterpiece. Now called Mindful Moments in the Museum and still occasionally offered at the museum (advertised with a sign by the Information Desk on the day of the tour), this free 20-minute program invites visitors to explore an object from the permanent collection through guided meditation led by Sadoyan.

Mindfulness sessions at Getty follow a basic format. First, Sadoyan leads the group to the work of art and invites everyone to sit or stand in front of the work (whichever they prefer). Next, there’s a five-minute meditation—participants are asked to observe their breath, feel the floor beneath them, bring their awareness to physical sensations and sounds, notice their thoughts and let them go, and ground themselves in the present moment.

Participants then turn their attention to the artwork. Each session is tailored to the individual piece, so no two sessions are alike. The educator often starts by asking group members to think about—and, if they're comfortable, share aloud—what they notice about the composition. Visitors then switch back and forth between using their breath as an anchor for mindfulness, and using the work of art as a prompt to keep exploring the world within it.

In a mindfulness exercise centered around Vincent van Gogh’s Irises, for instance, Sadoyan might invite the participants to envision themselves as one of the flowers gently blowing in the wind. Attendees might imagine the warmth of the air on their skin or the dirt beneath their feet. These “embodiment” exercises encourage guests to block out distractions, engage more closely with the art, and notice details they may otherwise overlook.

“If you see the same object on a [more traditional] tour, you’re thinking about what came before, and what’s coming next. How much time is left? You can allow yourself to forget all these logistical things in the mindfulness experience,” Sadoyan said. “It’s really a moment to just be here now.”

And after the session is over, do participants walk out with that blissful, centered glow that mindfulness practitioners often seem to exhibit? Oftentimes yes. And participants have frequently remarked that they’ve never had an experience like this in a museum before, or have commented on how enlightening or moving it was. Sadoyan remembered hearing about a visitor who approached a colleague afterwards to tell her that the exercise helped her process her grief over her husband’s death.

“People are much more vulnerable, intimate, and open to sharing these deeply personal responses,” Sadoyan said, “In another tour or experience, maybe they don’t feel like the open-hearted invitation is there.”

Teaching Mindfulness to Teens

In 2019 the museum began building a pilot program for teens called Art Impact, generously supported by Gregory Annenberg Weingarten and GRoW @ Annenberg. In collaboration with artworxLA, a nonprofit that connects students at alternative high schools with opportunities in the arts, the program invited 12 high school “interns” to visit the museum over six consecutive Saturday mornings this past spring, and to kick off and wrap up the program with virtual sessions. Participants explored the museum and practiced mindfulness while examining art, building on their knowledge each week.

“We were interested in students who might be disassociated from the system, their families, schools, and so forth, and seeing how a mindfulness art activity might have positive outcomes on their lives or their trajectories,” said Keishia Gu, head of education at Getty. "The theme of that program was to say, 'If you were to come to the Getty six times on a Saturday, would that change anything about how you interact with the world?'"

A program evaluation found that Art Impact increased students’ knowledge of art terms and the basics of mindfulness and helped them feel more comfortable talking about art. As the report noted, the interns used words like “inspiring,” “mind-blowing,” and “life-changing” to describe the program. “After I learned about using visualization when looking at art, I started using it in other things too, especially when I get upset,” one participant commented.

Jada Sparks applied for Art Impact after hearing about it at Duke Ellington High School in South L.A. She had never been to an art museum before but was using YouTube to teach herself how to draw and had practiced mindfulness in therapy. It helped her relax and think more clearly.

Practicing mindfulness while studying artworks in Getty’s collection opened her eyes to the emotions expressed in art—“I feel like each one tells a story and is showing you something,” she said.

Sparks said she continues to practice mindfulness in her daily life and still keeps in touch with her fellow Art Impact interns. She learned, she said, to remember to take in her surroundings with more openness and inquisitiveness.

“You never know what’s out there until you take your first step. There’s more to explore that you probably see around you,” Sparks said.

The Future of Mindfulness in the Museum

Getty’s education team plans to offer more Mindfulness in the Museum sessions in the future and perhaps more programs like Art Impact to reach other specialized audiences, such as older adults and teachers. Plans are also underway to add mindfulness-based practices into a new feature in the GettyGuide® app.

“Museums can be contemplative places,” Gu said, “so we’re thinking about ways to be connected and ever-present with our communities.”

For more on mindfulness in museums, listen to Sadoyan's series on the Art + Ideas podcast. She spoke with meditation teacher and guide Tracy Cochran about how mindfulness can shape our understanding of art, and with law professor and meditation teacher Rhonda Magee about healing through through mindfulness.