Medical Humanities
Session 6: Using Visual Arts Education and Reflective Practice to Increase
Empathy and Perspective Taking in Medical Students
Vin University
College of Health Sciences
Facilitator: Dr. Tu
TA: Ms. Ngoc
Course Objectives
1. Discuss strategies for visual analysis through
accurate and detailed descriptions of art
2. Describe strategies for dealing with biases and
evaluating diverse interpretations
3. Demonstrate empathetic communication in the
discussion of the human body
Course Overview by Session
Session 6a (on campus) : 110 mins
Close Observation & Description
Session 6b (on campus) : 60 mins
Gathering Information
Session 9a (at museum of fine art)
Ambiguity and Observation
Session 9b (at museum of fine art)
Empathetic Communication and Recognizing Bias
Session 6a. Close Observation & Accurate Description:
How to Look at Art
• Session Objectives:
– Develop strategies for looking at art
– Formulate close observations and detailed descriptions in the
galleries
– Describe methods of observation and communication
– Explain the role of observation in clinical practice
Close Observation & Accurate Description:
How to Look at Art
• Welcome & Course Overview + Survey (15 minutes)
• Introduction to Elements of Art and How to Look (15 minutes)
• Close Observation and Detailed Description Activities (30
minutes)
• Reflection and Questions (10 minutes)
• Break-out session: Outdoor Sculpture Activity (40 minutes)
How to Look at Art
Questions to Consider
• Active Looking: Take an inventory of what you
see (using the elements of art and principles of
design)
• Choices: What could the artist have done
differently?
• Connections: What connections can you make
with this work of art? Do you have outside
knowledge that could contribute to an
interpretation?
• Possibilities: What might the artist be trying to
communicate through this work of art? Consider
the range of possible interpretations. There is not
one, grand, unifying meaning for a work of art.
Elements of Art
Line
Shape
Form
Space
Texture
Color
Line
• a mark connecting two points with greater length than width
• real or implied lines, most often used to define Shape (see next)
• horizontal, vertical, diagonal; straight or curved; thick or thin
Claude Mellan, French, 1598-1688, Face of
Christ on Saint Veronica’s Cloth, 1649,
engraving on laid paper, 42.9 × 31.5 cm, MFAH,
Museum purchase funded by Leslie and Jack S.
Blanton, Jr. at Art + Paper 2018
Shape
• a closed line expressing length and width
• geometric, like squares and circles
• organic, like natural or free-form shapes
Amedeo Modigliani, Italian, 1884-1920, Léopold Zborowski,
c. 1916, oil on canvas, 116.2 × 73 cm, MFAH, John A. and
Audrey Jones Beck Collection, gift of Audrey Jones Beck
Form
• three-dimensional shapes expressing length, width, and depth
Unknown Roman, Sprinkler Flask, 200-400 AD, Blown glass,
8.6 × 6.4 × 6.4 cm, MFAH, Gift of Isabel B. Wilson
Space
• the area around, between and within shapes/objects
• real objects occupy three-dimensional space, and space around objects is called “negative
space”
French, Crozier Head with Saint Michael Trampling the Serpent, c. 1225-1250, Gilt copper and champlevé
enamel, 27.3 x 7.3 x 14 cm, MFAH (70.38)
Space
• on two-dimensional surfaces, we can create the illusion of depth (space) with a
background, foreground and middle ground; or, we can create “optical space”
Unknown Italian, The Meeting of Solomon
and the Queen of Sheba, c. 1470-1473,
tempera and gold leaf on wood, diameter
92.3 cm, MFAH, The Edith A. and Percy S.
Straus Collection
Texture
• surface quality that is seen or felt, but not look the way it feels or feel the way its looks
• examples: rough or smooth, soft or hard
Unknown African, Akan peoples, Ring, 1800-1899, gold, 5.1 x 3.8 cm, MFAH, Gift of Alfred C. Glassell, Jr.
Color: light reflected off of objects
Primary colors: blue, red, yellow
Secondary colors: purple, green, orange
Representational color: color choice based on nature
Expressive color: exaggerated or non-representational use of color to evoke an emotional
response or suggest symbolic meaning
Close Observation and
Detailed Description Activities
• 1 minute: mindful and active looking
• 5 minute: descriptive writing gathering visual information
using the elements of art
• 5 minutes: write your interpretive hypothesis considering
artistic choices, connections, and possibilities
• 1 minute: write a short reflection on your methods of
observation and interpretation
Descriptive writing
key words:
Interpretive
Hypothesis key
words:
Reflection and Questions
Reflection: Role of observation in clinical practice?
Homework:
Outdoor Sculpture Activity
1. Choose a sculpture from VinUni campus and complete the
series of close observation and detailed description activities
that we did in class today. Complete these activities two
times based on different vantage points observing the same
sculpture.
