Drink tea, tidy up and take action! Can advice from artists really improve your life?

<p>As three self-help books chock full of arty wisdom are released, an art critic tests whether they can improve a seemingly lost cause: him</p><p>You’d think at this point I would have learned all the lessons I could from art. I have been a full-time, professional art critic for most of my adult life. I spend my days in galleries, surrounded by art, reading about it, absorbing it. I like art a lot, but I am also cynical about its supposed benefits beyond the merely aesthetic.</p><p>But just as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/oct/28/picture-of-health-going-to-art-galleries-can-improve-wellbeing-study-reveals">a new study by the Art Fund</a> finds that art isn’t just good for our mental wellbeing but our physical health, three new books are hell-bent on proving that art is chock full of important life lessons too. Can art really teach us anything, can it change the world, can it make you a better person? We might as well put it to the test and see if it can improve the apparently unimprovable: me.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/nov/05/self-help-books-advice-from-artists">Continue reading...</a>