Reddit reviews Art as Therapy

If anyone is interested in reading more in that direction, there's this book.

Art as Therapy was really good. Promotes a more personal theory of the use of art. Looks like a text book, reads very personally. The author could have been speaking to me instead of dead words.

This isn't exactly what you asked for, but Art as Therapy by Alaine de Botton. It's less broad, but it is an interesting look at one way to interpret art.


"Alain de Botton and art historian John Armstrong propose a new way of looking at familiar masterpieces, suggesting that they can be useful, relevant, and – above all else – therapeutic for their viewers"


A friend gave me an anthology, One Thousand Years of Painting that's laid out well. The paintings are sorted into historical periods and color-coded sections are easy to navigate. I like that it shows several different examples of paintings to convey a broader sense of the styles and artists.