LOS ANGELES, CA.- Thanks to artist John Baldessari, the new umbrellas in the Cedars-Sinai Healing Gardens provide beauty as well as shade.

The 11 umbrellas dotting the Plaza level gardens are printed with images of Baldessari’s well-known white, puffy clouds against a blue sky. Three of the umbrellas are located between the North Tower and Saperstein Critical Care Tower. Four are placed near the metal gazebo alongside the North Tower and four are on the south side of the South Tower.

“We positioned the umbrellas, so people can enjoy them whether they are sitting under them or viewing the umbrellas from a patient room or a surgical waiting area,” said John T. Lange, curator of Cedars-Sinai’s art collection. “There is a fun play between the artist’s vision of sky and water, and the actual sky above the umbrellas.”

A California native, Baldessari is perhaps best known as a conceptual artist whose work often mixes painting, photography and graphic arts. His paintings often incorporate found imagery and movie stills into a new image. Baldessari, who lives in Los Angeles and has taught at University of California San Diego, California Institute for the Arts and UCLA, long has been a favorite in the Cedars-Sinai collection.

“Art is a language in itself,” said Baldessari, a Guggenheim Fellow who was immortalized in a recent episode of The Simpsons animated TV series, “and I hope my contribution to the Cedars-Sinai collection causes people to smile and forget about their troubles for a minute or two.”

The Cedars-Sinai art collection is comprised of more than 4,000 notable works by some 1,200 artists including Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, Judy Chicago, Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney and Lita Albequerque. The works in the collection all have been donated for the purpose of creating a healing environment for patients, visitors and staff.

“The Cedars-Sinai art collection was donated to help our patients heal and to provide our visitors and employees with an uplifting experience,” Lange said. “The Baldessari umbrellas are going to be a source of comfort and inspiration in a setting that is often stressful.”