A neurological study commissioned by the Mauritshuis in The Hague showed that viewing works of art in person elicited an emotional response that was ten times stronger than viewing the same works of art in reproduction.
Researchers equipped 20 subjects, ranging in age from 21 to 65, with eye-tracking equipment and an electroencephalography (EEG) brain scanner and showed them, in alternating order, five original works in the museum and poster replicas from the museum’s gift shop. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans participants’ brains to identify emotions caused by the paintings.
These works of art were Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” (ca. 1665) and “View of Delft” (ca. 1659–1661), Gerrit van Honthorst’s “The Violinist” (ca. 1626) and Rembrandt van Rijn’s “Self-Portrait” ( 1659) and “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp” (1632).
The results showed that real works of art activated the precuneus, the part of the brain associated with self-reflection. “Girl with a Pearl Earring” elicited the strongest responses and led to “deeper personal involvement and self-reflection” than the other works tested, the report said. The pattern of artworks eliciting stronger positive responses than their reproductions also held true for the other paintings in the study.
The results, which were released at the end of last month, come as the Dutch right The government plans to scale back subsidies for the cultural sector, which could remove up to 50 percent €350 million (~$386.22 million) a year out of the art ecosystem, which may have consequences for art spaces.
“We live in a time when we are increasingly confronted with copies and interpretations of reality,” said Vera Carasso, director of the Dutch Museum Association in a statement. “You might think that this would make real, authentic art or objects less important, but the opposite is true: real is becoming increasingly important.”
