ABSTRACT
The author and illustrator of the Madeline books, Ludwig Bemelmans, nearly suffered a breakdown while serving in the US Army during World War I. What saved him was what he called imagining “islands of security.” As he wrote in his memoir, “I have started to think in pictures and make myself several scenes to which I can escape instantly when the danger appears, instant happy pictures that are completely mine, familiar, warm and protective” (Rothstein, 2014). Bemelmans was instinctively using art to console himself and create a safe haven. He could have been describing the mission for introducing art into the healthcare environment: to create a place of respite using visual cues to help make patients, visitors, and staff feel they are in a space that is familiar, warm, protective, and above all, safe.
