Individual Differences in Complexity Preference and Artistic Style: Neoclassical versus Expressionistic Aesthetics

Abstract

Individual differences in style and emotional content of artwork created in an expressive therapy group were correlated with individual aesthetic preferences for visual complexity in order to investigate the dichotomy between classical and expressionistic/romantic aesthetic models. Twenty-two subjects produced artwork rated according to Simon's theory of styles. A dimension varying from vivid, nonrealistic, and painterly art to muted, realistic, and linear art was found to be moderately stable across sessions and reliable across raters. This dimension further correlated with subjects' scores on the Barron-Welsh Art Scale, assessing their preference for visual complexity, as well as with ratings of anxious and angry content in their art. These results were interpreted in light of recent models of hemispheric lateralization in complex emotional/visual information processing, in particular, in terms of individual biases in right vs. left cortical arousal.