Anouk Foundation

Startseite
Schweiz
Etoy
Anouk Foundation

We use art to improve healing in social and medical institutions where children or adults spend time

Our paintings comfort patients of all ages by diminishing their fear of the medical institution. Our artists, in collaboration with the professional staff, address the needs of each room to develop the project. Then we decorate the walls with uplifting and joyous scenes. It is a simple and effective way to support patients around the clock. To enhance and complement the visual support, we develop

a music listening programme with music therapists adapted to the age, pathological needs and cultural background of a patient or resident.

21/05/2026

May 20 was World Bee Day 🐝✨
A small occasion to celebrate one of the most important little creatures on our planet, and at the Anouk Foundation, also one of our most loved characters. ✨🐝

She appears in our murals in children’s hospitals, bringing gentle, playful moments into spaces that need lightness the most.

Sometimes she is flying through imaginary gardens, sometimes resting among flowers, sometimes becoming part of a story that makes children smile.

But beyond being a friendly character, she also carries a deeper meaning.

Bees are essential to life on Earth. They are responsible for pollinating nearly 90% of wild flowering plants and 75% of our food crops. Yet today, their extinction rate is dramatically increasing.

Through this tiny figure, we connect imagination with reality. 🌿

A soft presence on the wall, but also a quiet reminder of how fragile and interconnected life is. Because even the smallest beings can hold an entire world. ✨

20/05/2026

🌱 One of our recent projects brought our artists into the walls of Les Hirondelles Senior Mental Health (SMS) – Psychiatry of the Elderly, where an entire floor has been transformed through murals.

Each corridor now opens onto a different landscape - countryside, forest, lake, and mountains - replacing sterile white walls with familiar, comforting environments. These murals are not only visual interventions, but gentle tools for orientation, helping residents navigate their daily lives with greater ease and confidence.

Walking along the corridors is part of the residents’ everyday routine, alone or together. Where there was once emptiness, there are now ‘views’ to recognize, explore, and enjoy. Each room is connected to its surrounding landscape through a small, meaningful detail, for example a local animal, a flower, or a characteristic element that makes the door unique, memorable and thus easier to find. ✨

The result is a space that supports both emotional well-being and orientation, offering calm, familiarity, and moments of discovery.

🙌 We are deeply grateful to Fondation Claire-Magnin for their trust, and to Sikkens Switzerland for the fabulous paint.

13/05/2026

📍Bradley Hospital - Brown University Health

🙌 Two year after completing this large-scale participatory mural project at Bradley Hospital’s Adolescent Inpatient Program, we returned to collect feedback from the hospital team about the long-term impact of the spaces.

Developed by Anouk Foundation in close collaboration with healthcare staff and young patients, the project transformed corridors, sensory rooms, SAS spaces and community rooms into immersive environments inspired by nature, healing and emotional transition.

🌱 The murals were created not only to bring color into the hospital, but to support orientation, emotional safety, calm and human connection within psychiatric care spaces for teenagers.

Over the past year, the hospital team described the impact as both emotional and tangible.

👉🏻 Swipe through the post to discover the project spaces and some of the feedback we received one year later. ✨

A heartfelt thank you to the entire team and especially to the young patients whose ideas, emotions and participation helped shape these environments.

05/05/2026

🙌 We are pleased to share that the work and mission of the Anouk Foundation have been featured in a recent article by the Hungarian platform , the occasion marked by a related event at in Budapest, which provided a meaningful setting for exchange between the Swiss and Hungarian art and business communities.

👉🏻 The current issue focuses on Swiss - Hungarian connections, which is especially meaningful for us. It reflects our commitment to international dialogue and collaboration, and highlights the presence of a Hungarian artist within the Anouk Foundation team. The article includes interviews with our founder Vanessa von Richter and Hungarian artist , who plays an important role in connecting the Swiss and Hungarian cultural contexts.

✨ In the past, the Anouk Foundation has realized two hospital art projects in Hungary. We sincerely hope that this feature will help open new opportunities for future collaborations, allowing us to return and further expand our work, bringing art and therapeutic murals into hospital environments and departments where they are most needed.

We thank for the photos.

17/04/2026

🙌 Portraits from the Anouk Foundation - Sandy

Input from Sandy van Klei who does our Art4Impact programme at the International School of Schaffhausen and now of Zurich, plus the yearly Superhero Days at the Children’s Rehabilitation Clinic of the University Hospital Zurich. ✨

FR

Elle répond à 4 questions sur son expérience e ont que bénévole.

Que vous évoque la Fondation Anouk?

« De l’empathie en action. La Fondation Anouk révèle la manière dont la créativité peut transformer à la fois les espaces et les émotions — en rendant les hôpitaux et les institutions de soins plus humains, en ensoleillant les vies et en adoucissant les parcours difficiles. »
‌
Quand et pourquoi avez-vous commencé à collaborer avec la Fondation Anouk ?

« Depuis 2019, je cherche des moyens de donner en retour et de créer un impact significatif. Animée par un désir de soutenir les enfants hospitalisés, j’ai pris contact avec la Fondation Anouk, attirée par notre mission commune d’ensoleiller les vies.
Ensemble, nous avons donné vie à l’une de mes idées : des laveurs de vitres costumés qui apportent de la joie aux jeunes patients et à leurs familles. Je me suis également impliquée dans le programme Art4Impact. »
‌
Pouvez-vous partager une expérience marquante ou émouvante lors d’un projet ?

« Un moment particulièrement mémorable
a été lorsque les enfants du Kinder-Reha Schweiz ont pu rencontrer leurs super-héros en personne. Voir leurs visages s’illuminer — de pure joie et d’enthousiasme — a été profondément touchant. C’était une belle et chaleureuse preuve que même de petits moments créatifs peuvent avoir un si grand impact. »
‌
Enfin, qu’est-ce qui motive votre engagement auprès de la Fondation Anouk ?

« Ce qui me motive, c’est la possibilité de faire une réelle différence — apporter de la joie, du réconfort et des sourires aux enfants et à leurs familles est incroyablement inspirant. Cela me rappelle pourquoi il est important de donner en retour et combien même les moments les plus simples peuvent être porteurs de sens. »

02/04/2026

✨We just turned 18, officially old enough to celebrate with champagne 🥂

🙌 Right now, Anouk Foundation artists are working in Linz and Bern, made possible through your support, thank you!

27/03/2026

Retour en images sur notre projet de peintures murales au Centre Ambulatoire de Psychiatrie et de Psychothérapie (CAPPI) à Genève.

Au-delà de la fresque elle-même, ces peintures offrent un espace de lien et de mouvement, où chacun, patients comme soignants, peut prendre un temps pour se projeter dans des paysages colorés et apaisants. Elles offrent un petit répit à l’esprit, un moment de rêverie dans un environnement souvent anxiogène.

Un grand merci à Cristina Carvalho pour son témoignage et son partage. Fondation privée des HUG, Sikkens Center Schweiz and

EN

A look back in images at our mural painting project at the Outpatient Center for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (CAPPI) in Geneva.

Beyond the mural itself, these paintings create a space for connection and movement, where everyone - patients and healthcare professionals alike - can take a moment to immerse themselves in colorful, soothing landscapes. They offer a brief respite for the mind, a moment of daydreaming within an environment that is often anxiety-inducing.

A heartfelt thank you to Cristina Carvalho for her testimonial and for sharing her experience.

20/03/2026

🏥 Hospital corridors are rarely neutral. They can feel narrow, silent and endless, designed for efficiency rather than comfort.

Many hospitals ask us the same question. Can you make this space warmer and less stressful?

These before and after images show two different corridors, one in a children’s department and one in an adult facility. Different rhythms and different needs, yet one shared approach. Introducing nature as atmosphere rather than decoration.

Forests, open landscapes and at times even imaginary, storylike worlds gently enter these spaces. In the children’s ward the scenery becomes playful and dreamlike, while in the adult corridor nature remains calm and restrained. In both cases, carefully balanced colors soften sterile walls, visually expand windowless hallways and help reduce stress for patients, families and staff.

🌱 Healing can begin the moment you enter the corridor.

FR

🏥 Les couloirs d’hôpital sont rarement neutres. Ils peuvent sembler étroits, silencieux et interminables, conçus pour l’efficacité plutôt que pour le confort.

De nombreux hôpitaux nous posent la même question. Peut-on rendre cet espace plus chaleureux et moins stressant ?

Ces images avant et après montrent deux couloirs différents, l’un dans un service pédiatrique, l’autre dans un établissement pour adultes. Des rythmes et des besoins distincts, mais une approche commune. Introduire la nature comme atmosphère plutôt que comme simple décoration.

Des forêts, des paysages ouverts et parfois même des univers imaginaires et narratifs investissent ces espaces. Dans le service pour enfants, le décor devient ludique et onirique, tandis que dans le couloir pour adultes, la nature reste calme et épurée. Dans les deux cas, des couleurs soigneusement équilibrées adoucissent les murs stériles, élargissent visuellement les couloirs sans fenêtres et contribuent à réduire le stress des patients, des familles et du personnel.

🌱 La guérison peut commencer dès l’instant où l’on entre dans le couloir de l’hôpital.

12/03/2026

✨ In the German-speaking part of Switzerland, together with , we transformed a former basement of an asylum shelter for unaccompanied minors into a sports room.

This was important to the youngsters, as it created a space where they could release stress, tension, and uncertainty.

🤝 While equipped the space with new fitness machines, we painted murals. It was a beautifully collaborative process. The young people and our artists painted side by side. What started with just a few participants quickly became a collective process that everyone wanted to join.

As the days went by, another layer of the process began to emerge. The atmosphere during the painting sessions was calm, focused, and deeply harmonious. Seeing the young people paint with such concentration, care, and presence revealed the quiet, healing power of creating together.

One moment stayed with us in particular. A youngster who had never painted before discovered something new about himself.

“I didn’t know I could paint until you told me I can and that I’m good at it. You gave me the confidence to try, and now I have a new hobby.”

🌱 Creating spaces together changes more than walls. It changes confidence, perspective, and possibility.

Adresse

Route De Lavigny 7
Etoy
1163

Webseite

http://www.anouk.org/

Benachrichtigungen

Lassen Sie sich von uns eine E-Mail senden und seien Sie der erste der Neuigkeiten und Aktionen von Anouk Foundation erfährt. Ihre E-Mail-Adresse wird nicht für andere Zwecke verwendet und Sie können sich jederzeit abmelden.