On the relationship between thinking in opposites and art appreciation

Modern and contemporary art are not easy for the average observer. We investigated whether non experts’ aesthetic appreciation of modern and contemporary artworks could be modified by exposing them to two different kinds of intervention. The first, which was more traditional, provided additional information relating to art history (HI). Another more innovative intervention invited the participants to observe the creative elements in the artworks by “thinking in terms of opposites” with respect to standard, more traditional ideas (CI). We also added a third condition with no additional information (NI). 279 Italian adults completed an online questionnaire. This started with 35 items which measured curiosity, openness, familiarity and interest with regard to art. 15 artworks were then presented according to either the CI, HI or NI conditions followed by 6 questions to assess the participant’s appreciation of and/or interest in the artworks. Four final questions evaluated the participant’s overall experience. The CI and HI interventions both increased the degree of interest expressed by the participants and were also associated with greater feelings of overall enrichment (“I now feel more capable of appreciating this kind of artwork”). There was also less boredom as compared to the NI condition. Interestingly, the participants’ personality traits had a moderating effect on their responses in the HI and NI conditions, but not in CI. Thus, observing the artworks from a cognitive perspective by thinking in terms of opposites generally produced more consistently positive effects.