ART COLLECTION AT CEDARS-SINAI (Map)
8700 BEVERLY BLVD
W HOLLYWOOD
CA 90048
(Uncategorized or General Museums)
HTTP://WWW.CEDARS-SINAI.EDU

Cedars‑Sinai Art Collection & Public Art Program

Overview & Purpose

Cedars‑Sinai Medical Center, located at 8700 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90048 (near West Hollywood), is home to one of the most extensive and thoughtfully curated hospital‑based art collections in the United States. The collection has been developed over decades, entirely through donations and long‑term loans — paintings, sculptures, photographs, prints, installations, and outdoor public art — all intended to transform the hospital campus into a healing, uplifting environment. The program’s goal is to offer comfort, inspiration, and a sense of serenity to patients, visitors, and staff, under the belief that art and medicine together can enhance well‑being, hope, and human dignity.

The art program is administered under the oversight of an Advisory Council for the Arts, which evaluates every prospective donation or loan — whether a painting, print, or large-scale sculpture — to ensure it aligns with the hospital’s mission, environment, and values.

History & Origins

• The origins of the Cedars‑Sinai art collection date to 1966, when noted Los Angeles art collector Frederick R. Weisman was hospitalized at Cedars‑Sinai following a head injury. During his recovery, his wife, Marcia Simon Weisman — herself deeply involved in the art world — brought one of their prized paintings into his hospital room. The belief that this act may have aided his recovery inspired the idea that art could play a therapeutic role in medical settings.


• Motivated by this experience, Marcia Simon Weisman and her circle of artist friends and collectors began donating works to the hospital. Over time, what began as a private gesture evolved into a broad commitment to embed art throughout the medical campus.


• As the hospital expanded in the 1970s and beyond, newly built wings and corridors provided opportunities to integrate donated works across public spaces — waiting rooms, lobbies, hallways, plazas, and outdoor areas. The collection grew rapidly, encompassing modern and contemporary works across a variety of media.


• Today, the collection comprises thousands of works — conservatively estimated around 4,000 — spanning painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, installations, and outdoor public art. Over decades, Cedars‑Sinai has built a living, breathing gallery that serves patients, employees, visitors, and the broader community.

Scale, Scope & Display Philosophy

The Cedars‑Sinai campus spans roughly 30 acres, including hospital buildings, courtyards, plazas, walkways, parking structures, gardens, and landscaped terraces. The art collection is deeply integrated across nearly every public space: paintings and prints line hospital corridors and waiting areas; sculptures and installations occupy courtyards, gardens, and plazas; even temporary structures or construction areas may be adorned with donated murals or artworks.

At any given time, approximately 90–95% of the collection is on view somewhere on the campus. The intent is not to hide art behind museum walls — but to embed it in the rhythms of daily life: arriving for appointments, waiting for visitors, walking between buildings, or resting in gardens. This design approach emphasizes accessibility, inclusivity, and the idea that art can be part of healing, hope, and recovery.

Healing Gardens & Public Art Installations

One of the most distinctive and celebrated aspects of the Cedars‑Sinai art program is the Healing Gardens — an 82,500-square-foot landscaped environment surrounding much of the medical center. The Gardens combine drought-tolerant Southern California–appropriate plantings, walkways, benches, and carefully sited public sculptures, designed to provide patients, visitors, and staff with a peaceful, restorative environment.

Under the institution’s public art initiative (sometimes referred to as the Stanley & Elyse Grinstein Program for Public Sculpture), a number of large-scale sculptures and installations have been added over time. Among the notable works currently in the Gardens or on campus are:

• "MUSHMIND" by Aaron Curry — a bold, roughly 9-foot-tall painted aluminum sculpture, weighing around 600 pounds, placed prominently in a garden plaza to evoke curiosity, color, and a sense of playfulness within the healing environment.


• "Barranca" by Anna Fasshauer — a painted aluminum piece (light blue and red), combining industrial materials and vivid color to create a striking, contemporary form within the landscape.


• "Molecule Man" by Jonathan Borofsky — a 150-pound aluminum sculpture representing the interconnectedness of human beings at the molecular level, symbolizing unity, community, and shared humanity.


• "Deer" by Gwynn Murrill — a pair of bronze deer thoughtfully placed amid garden plantings, evoking themes of calm, gentleness, and a connection to nature, offering a serene visual experience for those walking the garden paths.


• "Skygate Number Six" by DeWain Valentine — a monumental sculpture made of bronze and glass, weighing nearly 1,900 pounds, originally created in 1984; its substantial scale and sleek materials make it a landmark feature on campus.


• "Three‑Part Reclining Figure" by Henry Moore — a large bronze sculpture on long-term loan, depicting a reclining human form, inviting reflection, rest, and contemplation; a fitting symbol for healing and recovery.


• "Sheaf of Wheat" by Harry Bertoia — a stainless-steel sculpture integrated into the landscape; designed to catch the wind and chime softly, blending art with natural movement, light, and sound.


• "Nothing Is New Except What Is Forgotten" by Alexis Smith — a conceptual installation: a walkway bridge whose concrete surface is inlaid with the titular phrase in metal. The design draws on cultural motifs and metaphorical language, offering a poetic reflection on memory, continuity, and renewal as people pass through daily.

These artworks — along with other sculptures, installations, and site-specific pieces — are purposely sited so that they are encountered naturally as people move through the campus. Patients, visitors, and staff may come across them on routine walks between buildings, during breaks in the gardens, or as part of everyday activity, making art part of daily life rather than a separate “museum visit.”

Content of the Collection: Artists & Media Represented

The Cedars‑Sinai collection spans multiple generations, countries, styles, and media. It includes paintings, prints, photography, sculptures, mixed-media pieces, installations, and video or new-media art. Some of the notable artists whose work has been part of the collection or contributed as donations or loans include:

• Major modern and contemporary artists from the 20th and 21st centuries — including pioneers of modernism, abstraction, pop art, minimalism, and conceptual art.


• Abstract painters and sculptors whose works range from bold geometries and color fields to experimental media and mixed-material pieces.


• Contemporary artists working in new media, installation, and public art — ensuring the collection remains current and responsive to evolving artistic practices.


• Local Los Angeles–based artists and emerging voices, reflecting Cedars‑Sinai’s commitment to community involvement and regional cultural engagement, in addition to international contributions.

The collection is not static: it evolves over time through ongoing donations, long-term loans, rotating displays, temporary exhibitions, and site-specific installations. This dynamic character ensures that the environment remains vibrant, relevant, and engaging for repeat visitors and long-term staff alike.

Institutional Programs & Community Engagement via Art

Cedars‑Sinai has developed formal programs that treat art not as decoration, but as integral to healing, community wellness, and cultural enrichment. Among these initiatives are:

• Visual Arts & Artists Circle Program: A program that invites hospital staff — including clinicians, researchers, nurses, support staff, and administrators — to engage in creative expression. This includes regular sketch sessions, staff art exhibits, invited artist talks, and opportunities for artists-in-residence. The program recognizes that creativity and art-making can support mental health, reduce stress, and foster a sense of community among hospital staff.


• Public Exhibitions & Benefit Shows: Cedars‑Sinai occasionally uses its gallery and public spaces to host exhibitions open to the public or targeted at hospital communities. In times of regional crises (such as wildfires or social emergencies), the institution has offered its space to local artists for benefit exhibitions and art sales, channeling proceeds to support affected artists and cultural workers — thereby using its platform to aid the broader arts community.


• Temporary and Site‑Specific Installations: Beyond the permanent collection, Cedars‑Sinai sometimes showcases temporary artworks in transitional areas, such as construction fencing, plazas under renovation, or newly built corridors. This ensures that art remains present even during structural changes, offering visual interest and a sense of continuity during times of transition.

Curatorial Governance & Donation-Based Model

The entire art collection at Cedars‑Sinai is based on donations and long-term loans — there is no record of major purchases initiated by the medical center itself. Gifts come from private collectors, artists themselves, grateful patients or families, galleries, or other cultural institutions. This model reflects a philanthropic and community-oriented vision: that art belongs in public spaces — including hospitals — and that artists, collectors, and communities can directly contribute to healing environments.

All proposed contributions undergo review by the Advisory Council for the Arts. The council evaluates each offered work for suitability in terms of medium, scale, subject matter, emotional resonance, and overall alignment with the hospital’s mission. This ensures that the collection remains cohesive, respectful, and true to the founding vision.

Impact, Significance & Role of the Art Collection

The Cedars‑Sinai art collection is significant on multiple levels:

• Therapeutic Environment: By embedding art throughout clinical and public spaces, Cedars‑Sinai creates a healing environment that can help reduce stress, support mental well‑being, and promote recovery. The presence of beauty, color, contemplation, and natural imagery helps humanize what might otherwise feel like a sterile medical setting.


• Access to High Art for All: The hospital effectively functions as a public art museum: patients, visitors, staff — regardless of background — can experience works by major artists, many of which they might not see elsewhere. This democratizes access to high-quality art and makes creative experience part of everyday life.


• Cultural Integration into Healthcare: Cedars‑Sinai exemplifies a model where art, medicine, care, and community intersect. Rather than seeing art as optional or decorative, the institution treats it as essential to emotional well‑being, identity, and human dignity. This integration repositions art from a luxury to a necessity in spaces of healing.


• Support for Artists and the Arts Community: Through benefit shows, community exhibitions, and open donation policies, Cedars‑Sinai supports working artists, cultural workers, and local art communities. The hospital’s resources — space, visibility, and infrastructure — provide artists with a platform and help sustain cultural ecosystems beyond the confines of traditional galleries.

Access & How to Experience the Collection

The art collection is not locked away behind museum walls. Instead, it is embedded in the everyday public spaces of the hospital: lobbies, corridors, gardens, plazas, and walkways. As a result, patients, staff, visitors, or passersby may encounter artworks simply by walking through the campus.

For those interested in a more intentional experience, Cedars‑Sinai periodically offers guided art tours led by trained volunteers or curators. These tours — lasting around 40 to 50 minutes — may be tailored by interest (modern art, sculpture, healing gardens, etc.) and are open to patients, visitors, and the general public (with appropriate visitor check‑in). The tours often include highlights of indoor and outdoor works, background stories, and an overview of the collection’s philosophy.

In addition to permanent works, rotating exhibitions, community art events, and temporary installations keep the experience fresh and engaging — rewarding repeat visits and encouraging deeper interaction with the collection over time.

Conclusion

The Cedars‑Sinai Art Collection stands as a powerful example of how art and medicine can merge to support healing, wellness, and community. What began as a simple act of compassion — bringing a painting to a recovering patient’s bedside — has grown into a vast, living gallery of thousands of works by leading modern and contemporary artists, embedded throughout a major health care campus.

From monumental sculptures in garden courtyards to intimate prints in waiting rooms, from conceptual installations to participatory community exhibits, Cedars‑Sinai transforms spaces of care into spaces of beauty, reflection, and hope. Through its public art installations, curated collection, community engagement, and inclusive donation-based model, the institution demonstrates that art is not a luxury — but a vital component of human well‑being.

For patients, staff, visitors, and the broader community alike, the Cedars‑Sinai art collection offers a reminder that healing involves not just the body, but the spirit; not just medicine, but beauty, connection, and humanity.