Chapter 5
A Phenomenological Study of Art Appreciation
The topic of study in this chapter is the manifestations of cognition in
emotions at a phenomenal level, and experiences with art were chosen
as a vehicle for such expressions. The review of literature on art
appreciation was conducted in the previous chapter, and shows that in
art appreciation emotion and cognition, and their relationship(s), have
been theorised to have a variety of forms. What follows is a study of
peoples’ actual experiences of this relationship in an attempt to
describe experiences of emotion as well as explore the possibility of
distinguishing between emotions and cognition. Some of the methods
of phenomenological psychology are used to uncover aspects of the
cognitive-emotive relationship.
5.1 Methodology
Esbjerg museum of art agreed to facilitate interviews of their museum
public. It is a modern art museum that has embraced contemporary
psychological theories of art appreciation, thereby enhancing the
visitors’ experiences. For instance, in the permanent collection no
information about the art works is given next to the pictures; a
procedure not frequently employed at museums, but which lends focus
to the artworks themselves and their own power of expression. The
museum contains mainly Danish art of the 20th century, with a focus
upon current art. At the time of the study, the museum featured two
contemporary exhibitions. One was an installation containing two
works by Olafur Eliasson called Surroundings Surrounded (2001) and
Light Extension (2002) in which he changes the perception of the
museum rooms via lights and mirrors, among other. Katya Sanders
and Andrea Geyer had created the other installation: Two labyrinths
with projections of an airport with short bits of texts. This work was
titled Meaning is What Hides the Instability of Ones Position (2004)
and was a cooperation between the Danish and the German artist,
respectively. This is an annual feature of the museum, wherein a
Danish artist is invited to create a work with their chosen artist from a
different country. The museum also featured parts of their permanent
collection, an aesthetic laboratory where pictures and sculptures can
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A Phenomenological Study of Art Appreciation
be manipulated and played with, as well as a sculpture garden. The
permanent collection contains mainly painted pictures, but also
photographs, sculptures and ceramics. Additionally, the parts of the
permanent collection not displayed are hung on movable walls that
can be pulled out and viewed by the visitors.
5.1.1 Interview Guide
In order to make possible the uncovering of areas and nuances not
anticipated from the outset, a relatively open interview structure was
preferred with much room for the participants to define the interview.
Steinar Kvale’s semi-structured interview was chosen as the preferred
interview style (1997). As inferred by the title, the interview is
partially organized. Moreover, it covers a middle ground of qualitative
research methods, as it is neither inductive, i.e. completely open and
based upon the appearing unstructured data alone, nor hesitant to
acknowledge the subjectivity of the researcher.
5.1.2 Procedure
Taped interviews were conducted for four days. Ten interviews were
made with a total of thirteen people about their experiences with art.
As this was a qualitative interview, it was the quality and not the
number of interviews that determined the extent of the investigation.
Four interviews were already planned before the interviewer arrived at
the museum. The remaining six interviews were conducted with
people who happened to visit the museum. Some of these people were
asked by the salesperson in the ticket booth if they would be available
for a conversation about their experiences at the museum after visiting
the exhibits.
Most of the museum visitors were interviewed immediately
after their visit to the exhibitions. This occurred in order to ensure that
the experiences were still fresh in their minds so that their stories were
as rich and accurate as possible. The interviews were conducted in an
empty room and in a quiet place in the museum hall. If the
interviewees desired, the exhibits were visited again during the
interview. At one of the interviewee’s request, the interview was
conducted at the art studio in which she worked. After the interviews
were conducted, impressions from the interviews were immediately
written down. Three of the interviewees were German and these
interviews were conducted in English. For those people who arrived