Picture of Health

Picture of Health is a multifaceted program fostering wellness among our museum members and guests. This innovative approach to wellbeing, the first of its kind in the Tampa Bay Area, allows us to harness the power of the Museum of Fine Arts’ galleries and gardens as a place of healing and solace for our members and guests. 

Picture of Health at the MFA includes:

  • MFA Mood Tours
  • Sit, Stay, Heal
  • Museum on Prescription

Picture of Health Mood Tours at the MFA

MFA MOOD TOURS

Take your emotional temperature – using the MFA’s collection!

Visitors who are inclined toward deeper explorations of their health can utilize one of the MFA’s Mood Tours, designed to facilitate viewing art in the Museum’s collection through the lens of emotions they might be experiencing, or striving for, during their visit.

Our six Mood Tours encompass the following emotions and each has a follow-up activity to deepen the interplay between health and art.

  1. Joy/Celebration: Throw a party, dance with a comic actor from 325 B.C. or imagine the joy in giving a bouquet of Georgia O’Keeffe’s flowers.
  2. Grief/Resilience: Access your emotions through the imagined inhabitants of a 19th century farmhouse or travel back in time to ancient Rome to pay homage to a lost love.
  3. Empowerment: Channel the protective power of the goddess Isis, embrace your inner hunter, or boost your confidence with your best Superman power stance in our Great Hall Pier mirrors.
  4. Calm: Explore Buddhist symbols, listen to the lapping waters of a serene coastline, and re-imagine your morning activities through the lens of peace and mindfulness.
  5. Self-Reflection: Create an offering to honor your life’s values and your understanding of the world.
  6. Relationships: Reconnect with a loved one or perform an act of kindness.

Sit, Stay, Heal Therapy Dog Sessions at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg

SIT, STAY, HEAL

Sit, Stay, Heal welcomes therapy dogs to our gardens the last Thursday of every month to offer stress and anxiety relief for members and visitors, with a special focus on the community’s hospital and frontline health care workers, who receive free admission to the museum during Sit, Stay, Heal.

Free for members and healthcare workers; with admission for not-yet-members

 


Museum on Prescription at the MFA

MUSEUM ON PRESCRIPTION

Multiple studies in recent years have found a clear link between viewing art and decreases in cortisol levels, our stress hormone, and a normalizing of heart rate patterns associated with light to moderate exercise.

In recognition of this new research, Museums on Prescription is a partnership between local physicians and therapists and the MFA which allows health care providers to prescribe visits to the museum for patients they feel would benefit from an art-viewing experience.

These visits offer two options: a free-range experience through the Museum’s galleries or a self-guided “Mood Tour” based on a range of emotions visitors might be experiencing, or striving for during their visit. After each visit, participants are invited to complete a Wellbeing Questionnaire, allowing them to self-assess the visit’s impact on their wellness.  


 

For more information on wellbeing programs, please contact Margaret Murray, Curator of Public Programs, at mmurray@mfastpete.org. 

MFA Picture of Health programs are made possible in part by Community Foundation Tampa Bay, Fields Galley Private Foundation, Smith & Associates Real Estate Foundation, and AARP Florida.