Museum MORE — Netherlands

In a restless world that rarely pauses, museums offer space to stand still — with art and with yourself.

At Museum MORE, Mindfulness in Museums (MiM) developed guided mindfulness experiences that invite visitors to encounter artworks with presence and curiosity.

During these sessions, participants pause and notice how they think, feel, and react while looking at art. Through this process, artworks become mirrors for inner experience. As a result, visitors often discover new perspectives on themselves and the world around them.

Mindfulness in Museums brings mindfulness from the meditation room and clinical practice into museums: spaces for presence, care, and shared humanity.

Mindfulness in Museums and Museum MORE

The collaboration between Mindfulness in Museums (MiM) and Museum MORE explores how art observation and mindfulness can deepen the experience of realistic art.

Through public programmes developed in connection with temporary exhibitions, visitors are invited to engage with artworks in a more attentive and reflective way. By slowing down their perception and noticing their inner responses, participants discover how art can resonate with personal experience.

These sessions create a space where visitors who might otherwise never meet come together to share reflections and perspectives inspired by the artworks.

Museum Context

Museum MORE aims to promote appreciation for Dutch realist art. The museum focuses on 20th-century and contemporary realism and presents one of the most important collections of modern realist painting in the Netherlands.

In addition to its permanent collection, Museum MORE presents a dynamic programme of temporary exhibitions that explore the rich spectrum of realist art.

In collaboration with the VriendenLoterij, the museum offers visitors the opportunity to experience these artworks in new ways. Mindfulness in Museums contributes to this initiative by creating guided art experiences that deepen reflection and engagement with the artworks.

Mindfulness in Museums Programme

Mindfulness in Museums sessions at Museum MORE usually include:

• a short mindfulness check-in meditation
• guided attention to selected artworks
• reflection on sensory and emotional experience
• inquiry connecting the artwork with everyday life

Participants learn to observe their inner experience while engaging with the artwork. This supports emotional regulation and clearer awareness.

In addition, the sessions help people shift from thinking about art to sensing it directly.

Connection to the Collection and Exhibitions

Mindfulness in Museums programmes at Museum MORE have been developed as public programmes connected to temporary exhibitions.

Examples include:

2023 — Jan Mankes
Public programme connected to the exhibition exploring the quiet intensity and contemplative qualities of Mankes’ work.

2022 — Arjan van Helmond
Public programme inviting visitors to explore perception, atmosphere, and personal interpretation in relation to contemporary realist painting.

These programmes encourage visitors to encounter realistic artworks with greater attention and personal reflection.

Impact

Mindfulness in Museums shows how museums can become spaces for presence, emotional regulation, and social connection when programmes are facilitated by trained professionals.

Participants often report:

• deeper engagement with artworks
• increased emotional awareness
• new perspectives on personal experience
• a sense of shared presence with others

Since 2020, more than 25 museums internationally have worked with Mindfulness in Museums (MiM), reaching nearly 2,000 participants.

MiM is applied and endorsed by leading partners such as the Van Gogh Museum, Museum of the Mind, and Oxford Mindfulness Foundation.

Quote from the Museum

“It is truly special that museum visitors who might otherwise never meet come together here to look at art in a different way and share their rich and diverse experiences with each other.”

— Ellen van Slagmaat
Head of Marketing & Communication, Museum MORE

Role of Mindfulness in Museums

Mindfulness in Museums collaborated with Museum MORE to:

• develop mindfulness-based public programmes connected to temporary exhibitions
• facilitate guided sessions in the museum galleries
• explore how realistic art can invite reflection and inner awareness

The MiM methodology is evidence-based, stress-, neuro- and trauma-informed.

All programmes are delivered by qualified mindfulness teachers trained at recognised institutions.

Mindfulness in Museums is a practice-led expertise emerging from the museum field itself, shaped by the sensory and emotional possibilities of art.

Partner

Museum MORE
Gorssel — The Netherlands