Summary: Exploring online galleries not only broadens public access to art, it also produces measurable benefits for mood, lowers anxiety, and enhances overall well-being.
Source: University of Vienna
Viewing artwork—whether in museums, galleries, or on a screen—can influence mood, stress levels, and personal well-being. But how effective is viewing art in an online environment compared with in-person experiences?
A recent study led by psychologists MacKenzie Trupp and Matthew Pelowski examined whether brief interactions with online art and cultural exhibitions produce similar positive effects on psychological health.
Their findings indicate that even a short, three-minute visit to a digital exhibition can yield significant improvements in subjective well-being.
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced physical venues to close, museums and cultural institutions rapidly expanded their digital offerings. Virtual museum tours and online galleries became widely shared and more easily reachable from home. This shift enabled people around the world to view artworks and cultural objects they might never have had access to previously.
Prior research over the past decade has documented that engagement with art in person supports mental health, reduces stress, and improves mood. The new study asked whether those benefits translate to online presentations accessible via smartphones, tablets, and computers.
Published in Frontiers in Psychology, the research measured participants’ psychological state and self-reported well-being before and after viewing online exhibitions. Participants were asked to spend a brief period interacting with digital displays of art and cultural content, after which changes in mood, anxiety, loneliness, and general well-being were assessed.
The results showed that even very brief exposure—around one to three minutes—led to measurable improvements: reductions in negative mood, decreases in state anxiety and feelings of loneliness, and increases in subjective well-being. These effects were comparable to those reported for short nature experiences and visits to physical art venues.
The study also highlighted how individual experience matters. Participants who rated the exhibition as more beautiful or personally meaningful, and who reported more positive emotions during the visit, experienced larger well-being gains. In other words, the subjective quality of the encounter—how engaging or emotionally resonant the artwork felt—played a central role in the mental health benefits observed.
These findings support the idea that brief, targeted online art experiences can serve as effective, low-cost interventions to support mental health. The results suggest practical applications for environments where access to physical art is limited, such as medical waiting rooms, hospitals, rural communities, and other spaces where people might benefit from short, restorative digital encounters with art.
The authors recommend that cultural institutions and health practitioners consider integrating curated digital artworks or short online exhibitions into settings aimed at improving mood and reducing anxiety. Tailoring these digital interventions to emphasize aesthetic appeal and meaningful engagement may enhance their effectiveness for individual viewers.
About this art and well-being research news
Author: Press Office
Source: University of Vienna
Contact: Press Office – University of Vienna
Image: The image is in the public domain
Original Research: Open access. “Can a Brief Interaction With Online, Digital Art Improve Wellbeing? A Comparative Study of the Impact of Online Art and Culture Presentations on Mood, State-Anxiety, Subjective Wellbeing, and Loneliness” by MacKenzie D. Trupp et al., Frontiers in Psychology
Abstract
Can a Brief Interaction With Online, Digital Art Improve Wellbeing? A Comparative Study of the Impact of Online Art and Culture Presentations on Mood, State-Anxiety, Subjective Wellbeing, and Loneliness
In-person engagement with art has been linked to positive outcomes for well-being and mental health, offering a promising non-pharmaceutical approach to mood regulation and anxiety reduction. This study tested whether similar benefits occur with short encounters with online art presentations—an important question as digital access to cultural content has expanded rapidly.
Eighty-four participants were assigned to view one of two online exhibitions hosted on a widely used digital platform: a Monet painting presentation or a comparably structured exhibit on Japanese culinary traditions. Following a very brief exposure of one to two minutes, both types of exhibitions produced improvements in negative mood, state anxiety, loneliness, and subjective well-being.
Further analysis suggested that changes in negative mood primarily explained the observed benefits, and those mood improvements were associated with participants’ aesthetic evaluations and the cognitive-emotional experience of the exhibition. No significant differences emerged between the two types of content, indicating that brief digital encounters with curated cultural material can generally support emotional well-being.
The study discusses implications for applying online art interventions in healthcare, public spaces, and remote communities, and calls for additional research to refine approaches that maximize individual benefit from digital cultural experiences.