Effects of creativity on aesthetic experience

Abstract

It is often neglected that the experience of artwork is a creative act, and one which requires the audience to be creative. This exploratory study aimed to examine whether creative activity and measures of pe rson`s creativity are correlated with the aesthetic experience of paintings. Eighty-two participants rated 21 paintings, including 7 figural traditional paintings, 7 semi-abstract works, and 7 abstract works. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two experimental groups. One group first created collages and then rated the paintings on five aesthetic preference scales, while the other group first rated the paintings and then created collages. Multilevel regression analysis with two crossed random effects (participants and paintings) was used. Results showed that performing a creative activity prior to rating artwork positively influenced ratings of artwork creativity. In addition, collage creativity was positively correlated with ratings of (semi)abstract paintings as beautiful. It is hypothesized that people become more open to new, unusual experiences, are more flexible and act more freely in their decisions when performing a creative activity, which reflects positively on stronger preferences of paintings.