Healing Arts Collection at Jacobs Medical Center

UC San Diego Health's Jacobs Medical Center in La Jolla includes an extraordinary 150-piece art collection intended to foster warmth and comfort for patients and their families. Conceived by philanthropist Joan Jacobs, the collection—part of a movement called "therapeutic art"—includes paintings, photographs, sculptures, and other media in virtually every area of the hospital, from hallways and lobbies to patient rooms and recovery areas.

The collection also complements the hospital's overall architectural design narrative, emphasizing views of nature, natural light and closeness of family. Patient rooms feature panoramas of Balboa Park, La Jolla and other views familiar to San Diegans.

The collection includes prints by notable artists such as Damien Hirst, Beatriz Milhazes, and Julian Schnabel, as well as works by Donald Sultan and Ryan McGinness. There are paintings by California artists Yunhee Min, Whitney Bedford and Eva Struble and work by local photographers such as Philipp Scholz Rittermann and Erik Jepsen. Many of the artists have lived in or have ties to San Diego.

Photo Gallery:

Visitors encounter Donald Sultan's sculpture, Big Yellow Poppies, on the walkway outside the hospital. Sultan is a prominent American painter, sculptor and printmaker whose works are included in many prestigious collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Whitney Museum of Modern Art. This piece is part of his famed Flower series.