In a hall of the iconic Guggenheim Museum in New York City, a group of students of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai stands silent. They don't keep stethoscopes, they don't study medical tests.
They try to observe patients who, however, jump through the works of art exposed to the museum.
This visit is part of their training.
The leading hematologist, Barry Kohler (Barry S. Coller), vice president at Rockefeller University Hospital and co-director of the Institute for the Global Research of the Infectious Diseases of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation at the same university, and art historian and exhibition curator, Bobby Kohler. (Bobbi Coller) have been teaching for several years a groundbreaking course at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai entitled "The Pulse of Art", which will be held at this year's conference of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation "SNF Nostos" in Athens.
This course attempts to bridge the worlds of Art and Medicine.
These two worlds at first sight look different, but they actually share something in common: the attempt to understand human experience.
"They are different and complementary fields," Barry Kohler points out in RES-APM. "Each brings to the fore another aspect of human effort. Both connect aspects of creativity and originality, although apparently they use very different means of expression." His wife, Bobby, adds that "we have found that there are so many connections, so many ways in which humanity and compassion for human condition are central to both areas.".
Goya as a bridge
One of the artworks that constitute "the epitome" of art and medicine coexistence, as the two professors say, is Francisco Goya's painting "Self-portrait with doctor Arietta", which was crafted in 1820. In the center of the painting is an elderly man - the painter himself, who, pale and exhausted from disease, leans backwards and his doctor keeps him protective.
Bobby Kohler describes him as a "unusual painting". "The artists usually want to present themselves in a very flattering way. In this painting, Goya is in the vortex of a disease, at the age of 73, and depicts himself vulnerable, out of control and dependent on someone else.".
The two professors aim to help medical students develop their observation and Goya's painting gives important material for observation. Students are asked to identify what a doctor would notice in a patient: skin pallor, body posture, physical exhaustion.
They also find that behind the two opposing central figures, the sick artist and the healthy doctor, are some still, faintly crafted people. Barry Kohler then describes to them that Goya at a younger age had passed through a very serious illness, likely due to a rare autoimmune disease, which affected the blood vessels in his brain and caused delirium, weakness, hearing loss and a variety of other symptoms. The figures on the background of this table are likely to be associated with this delirium.
"The observation is the basis for the formulation of medical diagnoses and care and goes beyond the mere observation of diseases. It's an observation about people's posture, their hygiene, their ability to concentrate. All this is really important. We also comment on how the patient is part of his family structure.“, ” notes the Barry Kohler and recalls the case of Leonardo Da Vinci, in whose works there was direct connection with Medicine.
Observance is not the only skill in which this particular course aims. The two professors consider it important to cultivate empathy through contact with Art.
"We may provide medical information about fever, but when we show them a painting, such as Goya's, then through it students can see a patient's reaction, what the illness causes the body and concentration. A work of art that has a very emotional and powerful visual element, will give a different kind of information," Bobby Kohler points out in RES-APM.
She adds that "it is not easy to have empathy. But I think if you try to do an exercise and include what you see or what you feel about someone else, then you encourage it. And I think the best we can do is encourage empathy by talking about how we perceive people and how we relate to them.".
The program's third goal is to contact students with the history of medicine, in order for students to understand the significant progress that Medicine has made over time. Through works of art they learn about times when polio caused horror in families, but also the enthusiasm that accompanied the development of the vaccine. They are also discussing major pandemics of the past and what knowledge they have left us today. In fact, the two teachers remember that in 2009, when they first started this course, "the pandemic looked like an old-fashioned concept.".
Barry Kohler stresses that the history of Medicine teaches us "the understanding of the evolution of ideas, the variable uncertainty of certain modern theories and the ability of the scientific community to broaden its understanding of diseases.".
According to figures, from 1840 to today life expectancy increased from 45 years to 90 years in high income countries. "I mark this period as a scientific era, as we essentially added one year of life expectancy every four or five years. It took about 10,000 years to add an extra year of life expectancy in the prescientific era. Therefore, we need to appreciate what science has done and how radically it has changed our ability to deal with diseases," he points out.
Medicine in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Today, as artificial intelligence is increasingly used in medical practice, Barry and Bobby Coler point out that the need for humanitarian education is becoming even more urgent.
"The preservation of humanity through Art and discussion on human condition and human challenges will be increasingly important for medical students, interns, for all, so that we do not forget that we are living organisms and not just, a problem solved within a second," concludes Bobby Kohler.
Barry and Bobby Kohler will talk about strengthening anthropocentric medicine through the historical association of Art and Medicine on Wednesday, June 24, at the Alternative Scene of the National Lyric Scene. The speech takes place at this year's conference "SNF Nostos" by Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
"SNF Nostos" returns to celebrate the Foundation's 30-year public benefit action with a central theme "Man Focus". It will be held from 21 to 28 June not only at Stavros Niarchos Cultural Centre in Athens, where it is generally hosted, but also at other places throughout the country.
The program includes discussions, performances, exhibitions, music events and other actions that illuminate different aspects of human experience. Among the more than 200 international guests to participate in the "SNF Nostos" 2026 include NBA champion Giannis Antetokounbo, great comedian John Cleese, charismatic actor Willem Dafo, chess Grand Meter Gary Kasparov, actress Nia Vardalos and others.
The entrance is clear.
RES-APA