Florence Nightingale on colour

“The effect in sickness of beautiful objects, of variety of objects, and especially of brilliancy of colours is hardly at all appreciated […] People say the effect is on the mind. It is no such thing. The effect is on the body, too. Little as we know about the way in which we are affected by form, colour, by light, we do know this, that they have a physical effect. Variety of form and brilliancy of colour in the objects presented to patients are actual means of recovery.”

Florence Nightingale, Notes on Nursing, 1859