Investigating the Sense of Pleasure and Abstract Perception of Different Artistic Genres within Iranian culture

Abstract

The aim of this research was to investigate the subjective experience of visual delight and abstract perception in Iranian culture as it relates to a variety of artistic genres. Furthermore, the objective of the study was to create a uniform repository of visual stimuli that could be utilized in scientific inquiries, with a particular focus on providing assistance to art therapy practitioners. The experimental and cross-sectional investigation, which spanned the academic year 2021-2022, centred on students and graduates of the faculties of engineering and fine arts at Tehran University. Six participants (two males and four females) were selected as a cohort using an available sampling technique. Every participant evaluated a total of 1045 paintings spanning across five distinct artistic movements: Impressionism, Cubism, Color Fields, and Abstract. The assessment duties comprised assigning ratings to the paintings according to their aesthetic appeal and tangible qualities. Statistical measures including the mean, standard deviation, analysis of variance, and mixed linear regression analysis were utilized in the data analysis. Utilizing Python 3, in conjunction with statistical utilities such as scipy and pingouin, enabled the execution of the analysis. The results indicated that there were notable variations in liking ratings among different artistic forms, with the exception of abstract cubism and abstract color fields. On the contrary, substantial disparities were noted across all genres in the concreteness-rating task, except for color fields, abstract, and cubism, which exhibited no noteworthy differentiation from one another.

Keywords

• aesthetic preference
• art perception
• art therapy
• concreteness rate
• liking rate