TURIN — Enigmatic, focused, melancholy, at times stern. A gallery of eyes greets visitors at Turin’s Ospedale Oftalmico, founded in the 19th century by Professor Casimiro Sperino and a landmark institution in the history of ophthalmology and medicine in Turin and beyond.

This time, however, the focus is not only on diagnosis and treatment, but on an effort to make the hospital a more welcoming place. Better yet, a place filled with life, where patients, family members and health care workers encounter a collage of eyes drawn from celebrated masterpieces of the past, images that, in turn, seem to gaze back.

From Picasso to Van Gogh, Velázquez to Botticelli, to name just a few masters, the idea is to create a two-way conversation: from the portraits to those who view them, and back again. It is an original project that will become even more intriguing when the eyes of patients themselves appear on the walls of the hospital on Via Juvarra, following the same formula and pursuing the same goal.

This is not decoration for decoration’s sake, nor is it simply a game. It is an attempt to bring art into a hospital, to introduce a measure of beauty into a place of care for everyone who enters it. And because it is an eye-care facility, focusing on eyes, those of the past as well as those of today, makes particular sense. Still capable of conveying an infinite range of emotions, these details, isolated from their original context, become the protagonists of a universal story of emotion, humanity, hope, strength and contemplation, creating a direct dialogue with those who pass through the hospital’s spaces.

The hospital, incidentally, has a remarkable collection of medical instruments, paintings and busts that are not open to the public.

Last week, Turin’s local health authority, ASL Città di Torino, inaugurated “The Eyes of Art,” a project created under the artistic direction of Banca Patrimoni Sella & C. The initiative is part of the health authority’s efforts to “humanize care,” based on the belief that “well-maintained environments enriched with artistic and cultural elements can help improve people’s sense of well-being and make their experience during treatment more positive.”

The inauguration was accompanied by music from the Briccialdi Wind Quintet, in a concert organized by MITO Settembre Música as part of the MITO Per la Città — Music in Places of Care program.

Art and music: a perfect pairing. “The Eyes of Art” is housed in the hospital’s waiting room, where thoughts, anxiety and worries tend to linger. And, as noted, the exhibition will continue to grow over time.

“We want to offer an environment that welcomes and accompanies people, bringing beauty into dialogue with care,” said Carlo Picco, Director General of the ASL (the Local Health Authority). “In a hospital that was originally devoted exclusively to eye health, the gaze becomes a tool for connection and reflection, reminding us of the value of the whole person.”

Arianna Vitale, Director of the Ospedale Oftalmico, sees it much the same way. “The project invites visitors to pause, observe and rediscover the communicative power of the eyes, creating a bridge between artistic heritage and health care,” she said.

For Daniela Magnetti, Art Director at Banca Patrimoni Sella & C., “in the gazes captured in masterpieces of art, we learn a fundamental lesson: imperfection and diversity are not limitations, but the true source of beauty, a powerful ally of well-being.”

Everyone sees it in their own way, to stay with the theme, and that too is an added value: the variety of eyes mirrors the variety of interpretations.

“Here, only those doctrines that can be applied for the benefit of those who suffer are of value,” reads the inscription beneath an exceptionally long canvas in the Ospedale Oftalmico’s Great Hall. The words come from a lecture delivered on Feb. 2, 1860, by Professor Casimiro Sperino, an Ophthalmologist who also specialized in dermatology and venereology and served as a member of Parliament and Senator, as well as the first Health Minister of the Kingdom of Italy.

The expertise remains, and it remains paramount. But there are many ways to ease suffering — including making spaces where medical knowledge becomes care more humane and welcoming.

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