Klee or Kid? The subjective experience of drawings from children and Paul Klee

I have compared the subjective experience of drawing from Paul Klee to drawings from children. Subjective experience was measured via a five factor model established by Hagtvedt, Hagtvedt, and Patrick (2008). These five factors were: skill, originality, arousal, valence (pleasantness), and beauty. I expected that work from Klee would be rated more as original and skilled than work from children, but similarly arousing and pleasant. In a web based study, participants rated eight paintings from Klee and children on five items; one for each factor. The results show that paintings from Klee are experienced as more skilled, original, arousing, pleasant, and beautiful than paintings from children. My hypothesis was partially confirmed: differences in ratings were much larger for skill and originality than for arousal and valence. Explorative analyses examined the effects of art experience, gender, and age. I discuss how the convergence of ratings on all five factors might indicate a single ‘art appreciation’ construct. Finally, I address how future research could control for participant expectations via implicit measures.