Environmental Health Concept Revealed in Paintings of Great Artists

Authors

  • Sotirios Maipas Master Program “Environment and Health. Management of Environmental Health Effects”, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 75 Mikras Asias Str., 11527, Goudi, Athens, Greece.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18533/journal.v8i7.1679

Keywords:

Environment, environmental health, environmental health history, environmental health risk factors, paintings.

Abstract

Environmental health is the segment of public health concerned with all the environmental factors of the natural and built environment that can potentially impact health. Many famous artists, such as Georges Seurat and Claude Monet, created magnificent pieces of art portraying aspects of the past natural and man-made environment which have been associated with environmental health concerns. The aim of this study is to present a sample of paintings from previous centuries that display significant environmental health information. For the purposes of the study, extensive research has been performed in official online public domain art databases. The study confirms that many aspects of environmental health have been clearly illustrated in famous paintings from previous centuries. All the relevant paintings, including both public domain and copyright protected artworks, provide important environmental health research material of high artistic, scientific and social value. This material may all be collected in a large, comprehensive database which would enrich the history repository of environmental health.

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2019-07-16

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