“Longevity is not just living longer. It is loving with meaning, with presence and with the right to belong. That is the heart of the Arts and Heath exhibition.”
On a recent trip to Spain I was fortunate to visit the renowned art gallery, Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid. I’m not sure it has the profile of the Miro or Picasso museums but it does have extraordinary works from Duccio, Van Eyck, Dürer, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Canaletto, Monet, Degas, Morisot, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Kirchner, Mondrian, O'Keeffe, Hopper… and its collection is made up of almost 1000 paintings, spanning the history of art from the late 13th right up until the 20th century.
So amongst this, to see an additional exhibition on the association between art and health was a surprise and a delight. Called the Arts and Health Longevity exhibition it commenced with a wonderful opening statement: ‘A declaration on how we inhabit old age from the fields of Arts and Health’.
Presented by the ‘Fundación Cultura en Vena’ (Culture In The Vein Foundation), the initiative aimed to generate a dialogue on the relationship and connections between art and health in old age.
The 9th October was the International Ageism Awareness Day. The cultural and healthcare sectors gathered at the museum to address various issues affecting older adults.
This event and exhibition challenged us to consider if the arts can help us achieve a full, healthy and diverse longevity. It presented iconic works from art history, digitally altered to address various themes affecting older people- healthy aging, ageism, neurodegenerative diseases, care networks, unwanted loneliness and further reflections on health in later life that concern us on both an individual and personal level as well as a societal level.
It approached the concept of the ‘older person’, not as a fixed number, but as a complex, diverse and evolving stage of life, shaped by our experiences, bodies, desires, care and knowledge. Exploring new ways to consider longevity, by not dividing life into rigid blocks or as a passage of time reduced to a chronological age.
It spoke of being an older person, not a category, but a possibility. An opportunity to make visible other ways of inhabiting time and our bodies. It celebrated multiple old ages and those that claim their right to rest, be cared for, and who resist stereotypes.
So from the "vantage point of arts and health, we propose breaking with ageism, questioning the narratives that tell us how an older person should be, and creating spaces to imagine new ways of aging, of accompanying one another and of building community”.
At its foundation of this exhibition was the belief that art and cultural activities are a means to improve emotional well-being, reduce loneliness and slow cognitive decline.
“Art does not replace medicine, but offers what medicine sometimes lacks: meaning, connection, memory and identity”.
References:
Includes quotes from the exhibition signage.
Art and Health IV. Health in Old Age: https://www.museothyssen.org/en/activities/art-and-health-iv-health-old-age
Images from the exhibition
Can a still life still be active?
A weekly pill organiser gathers the medication for the day. It is both a companion and a compass, yet it is not the only presence on this everyday table. A protein supplement strengthens the diet, cookbooks provide healthy alternatives and museum tickets , like social events, are all on show.
"For centuries the term still life has named the pictorial genre that depicts what is inert. Today , from the perspective of longevity and health, we affirm that life also persists in stillness and dignity. ... A way of saying: someone lives here. Someone who needs to care for their body, but also for their desire to learn, to read and cook, to be moved by a painting... This is a still active life."
What if caring for the body is a form of autonomy and not aesthetic obsession?
Saint Jerome holds a kettlebell, not a skull. The skull, a classic reminder of the finite nature of life, is replaced with weight training.
St Jerome has traditionally been portrayed as an example of spiritual transformation through physical labour. In this reinterpretation , his body no longer kneels before death, it strengthens itself to live. The books beside him teach longevity and an active health.
His muscles are not vanity, they are tools. He "reminds us that ageing is not ceasing to be. It is choosing how to keep being".
Who cares for the carers?
In this reinterpretation, Tobias returns to care for Tobit, his father and is assisted by Archangel Raphael as well as healthcare professionals. Tobit has lost his vision, is fragile and in hospital pyjamas.
"In this biblical scene...the vision restored is not only physical. It is the gaze.... that does not reduce them to their dependency or discriminate against them because of age. ... Here the miracle is not only medical, it is emotional, collective, upheld by a healthcare network that is attentive, humane and compassionate, embracing the dignity of life in all its stages and recognising the right to care until the very last breath".
To age is not to become an object,
it is to continue being a subject.
We see in so many images of this period, the female figure often as discreet and blended into the furnishings. Here we see a silent room, light entering at an angle, and a woman seated in a wheelchair. On the wall are post- it notes, strategies to help with forgetfulness, reading 'call Elena', 'Wednesday theater', 'check blood pressure'.
A reinterpretation of the harsh reality of old age, loneliness. But may we go one step further... does a gender gap also exist in advanced age? Older women that gradually disappear, have stopped being named, seen or heard.
"Ageing as a woman often means suffering double discrimination. Structural inequity persist in female old age, erasing the archetype of the wise, mentoring elder".
Three versions of the same woman, Gioconda.
Three possible faces reflecting old age.
"Time has passed with tenderness. Her wrinkled skin is not a flaw but a trace, the testimony of lived stories". She has aged with dignity, and represents an active longevity, resistant to the pressures of the cosmetic industry.
A face covered in Post -it notes, are these reminders of memory loss?
Post- it notes- the first recalls 'take the morning pills', then they record 'my name is Carmen Ruiz. My husband's name is Julian', until they end in total disorientation 'Who is Julian?'.
Neurodegenerative diseases not only erase the memory, they erode our biography.
This face has become blurred, almost invisible. What happens when we stop looking? "Ageism erases the essence of the individual, silences, marginalises. This faceless Gioconda challenges us all, who loses when we stop seeing older people as whole individuals?"
Healthy longevity means adding life to years not adding years to life. It is about living with meaning, with care, with companionship. We even see in these images, a recent restoration of Leonardo's work of an uncovered background that had remained in the shadow.
"Perhaps age is not simply a layering of time. Perhaps, if we look beyond the surface, an unexpected landscape will be revealed".
Quotes are from text as it appeared in exhibition signage.
