Where Does One Look When Viewing Artwork in a Museum?

Abstract

Four participants viewed artwork (5 abstract and 9 representational paintings) displayed in a museum, while wearing a portable eye tracker. We tested whether features in the paintings would determine the viewers' saccade-fixation patterns and viewing times. Participants produced unique eye-movement patterns that varied with each painting, regardless of genre. Some fixations clustered on features, predefined as informative of a narrative illustrated by the painting, whereas other fixations fell on homogenous patches of color; however, the features selected for fixation varied considerably across viewers and paintings. Participants' mean fixation durations for abstract artwork increased as viewing time progressed, suggesting that eye movement patterns change over time. Participants' aesthetic judgments of the paintings were not significantly correlated with fixation durations or viewing time, contrary to our predictions. Results are discussed in terms of cognitive factors that may influence eye movements made when viewing artwork in a real-world setting.