Abstract
Some aesthetic experiences depend predominantly on the perceptual attributes of the stimulus. In the last two decades, contour shape has been widely studied as a factor in visual aesthetic preference, with many studies showing that humans and other species usually prefer curved to sharp-angled contours and lines. The reasons for this preference, although keenly debated, still remain unknown. Studies of preference for curvature have tended to rely on simple visual stimuli due to the need to control confounding variables. Yet such stimuli may have little relevance for the effect that preference for curvature may have on judgements about art and results from standard laboratory settings cannot be reliably generalized to the ecological context. The main objective of the present study was to test whether the effect of preference for curvature can also be found when participants are shown real works of art in an ecological context, i.e. a museum. The study used a collection of 48 paintings divided into 16 sets with three versions in each set (curved, sharp-angled, and mixed), with all other variables controlled. We carried out two studies in two different museums. In Study 1 data were collected on handheld tablets and in Study 2 participants recorded their responses in booklets. Our results showed that participants liked the curved versions significantly more than than the sharp-angled versions and reported wanting them more. Participants also looked at the curved versions from a closer position than the sharp-angled versions, which we used as an implicit measure of approachability. We conclude that contour curvature is an important perceptual factor in people’s aesthetic judgements about real paintings displayed in an ecological context.