Together in the dark?: Investigating the understanding and feeling of intended emotions between viewers and professional artists at the Venice Biennale.

Abstract

We present a unique opportunity to test the ability of artists to systematically evoke emotions in an audience via art and, transversely, for viewers to pick out intentions of the artist. This follows a recent article which had shown this connection using installation artworks by MFA student-artists. However, this earlier article had left open questions regarding whether similar relationships might be found with professional artists and contemporary art—putting at odds earlier expressive theories that art should transmit emotion versus 20-21st century arguments that art-making might be more for its “own sake” and thus with art, artists, and/or contemporary viewers perhaps not producing similar results. With works from the Italian pavilion of the 57th Venice Biennale, we matched viewers’ (N = 113) reported subjectively felt emotions, and their identification of emotions that they thought the artist wanted them to feel, to the actual artists’ intentions (as communicated via an accompanying curator’s text). Replicating the previous article, viewers identified intended emotions well above chance and reported feeling intended emotions more than non-intended emotions, with two of three artworks. At the same time, what individuals subjectively felt better predicted how they interpreted artist intentions with an effect size twice that of actual intentions. Feeling that one understood intention, regardless of actually being correct, and feeling more emotion, in general, also better predicted positively rating the art. Similar results were found in a reanalysis of the previous article's data, raising intriguing implications for the role of objective and subjective understanding, empathy, and appraisal in art experience.

On the Impact of Public Art: Engaging a Pedestrian-level Exhibition Improves Neighbourhood Connectedness and Well-being

“…The results obtained in this study are promising and provide evidence supporting the notion that emotionally and/or intellectually connecting with artists enhances and enriches one's engagement with art. This result supports past research; Participant's ability to routinely report feeling more of the emotions intended by the artist is a result consistent with the literature on this topic (Pelowski et al, 2020;Pelowski et al, 2023). In a study employing contemporary artworks, a high agreement was found between the intended emotions of the artist and those experienced by the viewers: In Pelowski et al's (2020) study, artists were instructed to document their emotional states during the art-making process and articulate their intentions for conveying emotions to viewers.…”

When the painting meets its musical inspiration: The impact of multimodal art experience on aesthetic enjoyment and subjective well-being in the museum.

“…Affective empathy "I felt a sense of Klimt's presence"; cognitive empathy "I thought about the way Klimt must have felt when making the art"; understanding with "I understood Klimt's intention." Scales were formulated based on Pelowski et al (2020Pelowski et al ( , 2022.…”

Art Knowledge Training Shapes Understanding, Inspires Creativity and Stimulates Thinking

“…Understanding art by having the feeling of grasping the artist's message requires some level of art knowledge, usually acquired through formal educational training or informal activities, such as visiting museums or attending live events with performing artists (Bimler, et al, 2019;Carbon, 2019;Kirsch et al, 2016;Pelowski et al, 2021;Vicary et al, 2017). While the role of arts in communicating ideas and evoking emotions is widely acknowledged (Carroll, 2000;Gaut, 2009;Seeley, 2013;Sherman & Morrissey, 2017), the empirical demonstration of how art knowledge shapes understanding, stimulates thinking and creative ideas, as well as how these effects generalise to novel contexts, remains poorly understood.…”