TY - JOUR

T1 - Absorbing the gaze, scattering looks

T2 - Klimt’s distinctive style and its two-fold effect on the eye of the beholder

AU - Miscenà, Anna

AU - Arato, Jozsef

AU - Rosenberg, Raphael

PY - 2020/10/6

Y1 - 2020/10/6

N2 - Among the most renowned painters of the early twentieth century, Gustav Klimt is often associated – by experts and laymen alike - with a distinctive style of representation: the visual juxtaposition of realistic features and flattened ornamental patterns. Art historical writing suggests that this juxtaposition allows a two-fold experience; the perception of both the realm of art and the realm of life. While Klimt adopted a variety of stylistic choices in his career, this one popularised his work and was hardly ever used by other artists. The following study was designed to observe whether Klimt’s distinctive style causes a specific behaviour of the viewer, at the level of eye-movements. Twenty-one portraits were shown to thirty viewers while their eye-movements were recorded. The pictures included artworks by Klimt in both his distinctive and non-distinctive styles, as well as other artists of the same historical period. The recorded data show that only Klimt’s distinctive paintings induce a specific eyemovement pattern with alternating longer (“absorbed”) and shorter (“scattered”) fixations. We therefore claim that there is a behavioural correspondence to what art historical interpretations have so far asserted: The perception of “Klimt’s style” can be described as two-fold also at a physiological level.

AB - Among the most renowned painters of the early twentieth century, Gustav Klimt is often associated – by experts and laymen alike - with a distinctive style of representation: the visual juxtaposition of realistic features and flattened ornamental patterns. Art historical writing suggests that this juxtaposition allows a two-fold experience; the perception of both the realm of art and the realm of life. While Klimt adopted a variety of stylistic choices in his career, this one popularised his work and was hardly ever used by other artists. The following study was designed to observe whether Klimt’s distinctive style causes a specific behaviour of the viewer, at the level of eye-movements. Twenty-one portraits were shown to thirty viewers while their eye-movements were recorded. The pictures included artworks by Klimt in both his distinctive and non-distinctive styles, as well as other artists of the same historical period. The recorded data show that only Klimt’s distinctive paintings induce a specific eyemovement pattern with alternating longer (“absorbed”) and shorter (“scattered”) fixations. We therefore claim that there is a behavioural correspondence to what art historical interpretations have so far asserted: The perception of “Klimt’s style” can be described as two-fold also at a physiological level.

KW - art perception

KW - Eye movement

KW - eye tracking

KW - fixations

KW - Media and communication studies

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85102848202&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/cc7d3a40-05a7-3c85-8ca6-6343d1c7c564/

U2 - 10.16910/JEMR.13.2.8

DO - 10.16910/JEMR.13.2.8

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85102848202

VL - 13

JO - Journal of Eye Movement Research

JF - Journal of Eye Movement Research

SN - 1995-8692

IS - 2

M1 - 8

ER -