Our History

Paintings in Hospitals was founded in 1959 by Sheridan Russell, Almoner at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London. He had been showing paintings by contemporary artists in waiting rooms, corridors and wards at the hospital and understood the positive contribution that the visual arts had on patient health and mental wellbeing.

With support from the Nuffield Foundation, he set out to create a unique art library, containing high quality works of art that raise the spirits and engage patients and carers alike. Being personally interested in painting he was able to persuade artists, collectors and galleries to lend work for display.

In 1960, an advisory committee, under the leadership of Sir Dennis Proctor KCB, Chairman of the Tate Gallery (1953 – 1959), was established to oversee the selection of suitable works for the collection. After a decade the loan collection consisted of 400 artworks with more than 45 hospitals involved in the scheme. The quality of the collection was of the utmost importance with artworks being acquired from prominent artists and high profile galleries in London.

Paintings in Hospitals was formally registered as a charity in 1971. It was administered by a board of trustees, including Sir Dennis Proctor, Lawrence Gowing and Eric Newton with Lord Croft and Roger de Grey, President of the Royal Academy (1984-1993), joining soon after.

The charity’s collection was for display in public areas of hospitals, where they could be seen by patients, staff and visitors alike. Recently acquired artworks would be exhibited at an annual exhibition, a practice that continues to this day.

Sheridan Russell was passionate that everyone should experience the therapeutic benefits of art. In the mid 1980s Paintings in Hospitals began developing a regional network enabling healthcare sites outside London to access the collection. Today the charity has regional centres across the UK from London to Aberystwyth, York to Belfast, that help us better support local healthcare communities.

Our collection continued to grow throughout the 1980s and 1990s as did the support we provided to health practitioners, their patients and the public. The collection now contains over 4000 artworks, including drawings, paintings, textiles, photographs and, more recently, animations. We continue to provide loan schemes and work hard to keep the fees affordable to the healthcare community.

In 2000, our charity began running artist in residence projects to enable those undergoing treatment to experience the therapeutic benefits of making art and being part of a creative process. Over the last 10 years, the charity delivered 16 residency projects, enabling 11 care homes and 5 hospitals to better support their patients. Find out more about projects.

We firmly believe in art’s contribution to the healing process and continue to work with artists, galleries, museums and collectors to provide access to high quality artworks for patients, their families and the staff who care for them.