Art Galleries are more highly attended than Australia’s beloved AFL football (ArtFacts, n.d.). The National Gallery of Victoria’s 2017–18 Triennial is now the most attended in their 157-year history, welcoming 1.2 million visitors (pgav.org.au, 2018). With rising mental health issues, the validity of alternative medicines such as meditation, exercise, music and the arts is becoming well known.

“In 2006, The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York set up an art access program specifically for people with dementia recognising the beneficial impact of engaging with artworks. Shortly afterwards, informed by the work at MOMA, the Art Gallery of New South Wales ran a pilot program inviting people living with dementia to view iconic works in the gallery collection.” (Kenning, G 2016)

Art gallery visitors are always thought to be the stereotypical over-60’s personnel (the statistics certainly show this), but the 18–25-year-old demographic is challenging them as galleries become more technologically savvy. It is hard to fathom that the artwork in front of us is sometimes more than twice our age.

While living in Germany I attended as many art galleries as I could, because I was interested in the long history of European art available. I was particularly interested in the stories behind the artwork. For example, in Da Vinci’s Last Supper, the bread rolls running across the table line up to make musical notes, producing a 40 second song. During WWII, art, furniture and jewels were hidden in the Alps near Munich to ensure their preservation. Unidentified people in paintings are identified sometimes hundreds of years later. Originals are proven to be replicas. Artworks are stolen and returned.

Most people waltz through a gallery like they’re walking down the aisle. The gallery provides a serene, quiet space for people to calmly reflect, ponder, and gaze in wonderment at the artwork in front of them. It puts your daily life out of your mind for an hour or two.