Doctors in Montreal, Canada are to take a radical step in prescribing free art museum visits to patients suffering from a range of conditions, including depression and diabetes.

The move is part of a link up between Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and Médecins Francophones du Canada, a French-speaking doctors association in Canada, which will see member practitioners prescribe free visits to the museum as part of a wellbeing initiative.

“In the 21st century, culture will be what physical activity was for health in the 20th century,” said Montreal Museum of Fine Arts director general Nathalie Bondil, speaking to the Montreal Gazette.

The museum has already taken significant steps linking art into wellbeing in Montreal, setting up a community studio supervised by an art therapist called the Art Hive. Among the programmes available to people at the Art Hive is a facility to conduct research with physicians on the health benefits of museum visits.

Médecins Francophones du Canada vice-president Hélène Boyer said: “There’s more and more scientific proof that art therapy is good for your physical health.

“It increases our level of cortisol and our level of serotonin. We secrete hormones when we visit a museum and these hormones are responsible for our well-being.”

The museum will allow doctors to prescribe 50 free visits per year for patients and/or caregivers. Each prescription will permit entry to up to two adults and two children aged under 18.