The L’Arte che cura project, a new initiative to exhibit works of art in hospital spaces, has begun atNiguarda Hospital in Milan. The series of exhibitions, entitled The Guest, stems from an agreement signed in 2024 between the Niguarda Hospital Foundation and the Brera Art Gallery, with the collaboration of the Archdiocese of Milan. The goal is to bring artistic masterpieces to places of suffering, with the intention of offering relief and comfort to patients and health workers through the aesthetic enjoyment and symbolic value of art.
The project’s debut takes place in the South Block of the hospital, where for the first time a work from the collection of the Brera Art Gallery has been placed. The painting chosen is the Madonna of the Veil, a 17th-century copy of Raphael’s famous subject, attributed to Giovanni Battista Salvi, known as Sassoferrato. The work, currently kept at the Quadreria Arcivescovile in Milan, represents the first chapter in a series of temporary exhibitions that will also involve works from the Braidense collection.
“The theme in this context of care and the choice of its display in the Marian month emphasizes even more the symbolic value of relief and reflection on the important values of life,” says Angelo Crespi, director of the Pinacoteca di Brera, “on affection, family and maternal love in an environment of suffering and care such as a hospital.”
“In 1940, just a few months after its inauguration, Niguarda was already known as ’The City of Art’: because alongside its care and treatment services, it was also a place of culture, capable of displaying a remarkable collection of works of art,” explains Alberto Zoli, president of the Niguarda Hospital Foundation and General Director ASST Grande Ospedale Niguarda. “Our link with art continues to this day and is also strengthened by our One Health approach: health today is no longer ”only“ about treating people, but is also about caring for the place where they live and work, the air they breathe, the interactions they have with other species, as well as promoting prevention and sustainability. In all this, great attention is paid to physical places as a real vehicle of health: with their healthiness, but also with their ’beauty’ and interconnection with painting, sculpture, music. The collaboration with the Art Gallery could only take place in one of our Pavilions.”
“The arrival of the work from the Pinacoteca di Brera is another initiative of the Fondazione Ospedale Niguarda, which in just under two years has achieved important goals and developed many projects in favor of the patients of ASST Ospedale Niguarda,” says Riccardo Bertollini, Secretary of the Fondazione Ospedale Niguarda. “The next initiatives will be the fundraising dinner for the ”Sport to Grow“ project next June 23 at the ”Vittorio Di Capua“ Equestrian Center inside the Hospital and the evening at Teatro alla Scala on March 30, 2026, just to name a few. The 5x1000 donation campaign also continues.”
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The project is part of a path of cultural enhancement that aims to integrate the aesthetic and therapeutic dimensions within the hospital context. The initiative is aimed not only at inpatients, but also at medical and nursing staff, who are involved daily in situations of fragility and vulnerability. According to studies conducted in the field of art therapy, the presence of artwork in places of care can help reduce stress, improve patients’ moods and foster a more humane perception of the hospital environment. The initiative does not introduce art into the hospital for the first time. At Niguarda Hospital, paths related to art therapy have already been in place for some time, considered a complementary support to clinical practice. However, The Guest represents a further step, based on the idea that beauty can constitute a tangible element of closeness to those who suffer. The approach is inspired by a holistic view of care, which is not limited to the technical dimension but considers psychological and spiritual well-being as an integral part of the healing process.
The choice of the first work is not random. The selected painting is a copy of the Madonna of the Veil, originally made by Raphael between 1511 and 1512 for the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. The version exhibited at Niguarda is dated around 1635 and is attributed to Sassoferrato, an artist known for producing devotional images inspired by Renaissance masters. The authorship of the work is not entirely certain, but scholars converge in recognizing Sassoferrato as the style and sensibility that characterize this depiction. In the painting, the Virgin Mary is depicted in the foreground as she lifts a veil, revealing the face of the baby Jesus. The baby reacts to the gesture with a participating gaze, while St. Joseph observes the scene on the right. The veil element takes on a symbolic meaning: it recalls the shroud and, by implication, the Passion of Christ. The dark, almost gloomy background brings out the intense colors of the Madonna’s robe and the whiteness of the fabrics, accentuated by the play of light that follows the folds of the bodies and makes the veil impalpable. The artist seems to draw as much from the tradition of Leonardo da Vinci, for the atmospheric rendering and use of light, as from that of Raphael, for the familiar and intimate construction of the sacred scene. The work thus sits at a point of convergence between idealization and realism, between religious solemnity and everyday delicacy. Characteristics that, in a hospital context, can stimulate profound reflections on fragility, hope, care and the bond between people.
In the coming months, the initiative will continue with new exhibitions involving other works from Milan’s public collections, particularly those held at the Pinacoteca di Brera and the Braidense Library. The works will be selected on the basis of their ability to dialogue with space and the public, taking into account the context in which they will be placed. Each exhibition will be accompanied by an informative apparatus and in-depth moments open to the hospital community.
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| Brera Art Gallery works loaned to hospital: the Sassoferrato at Niguarda |
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