Understanding how art museum visitors positively connect with artworks

Abstract

This paper deals with the concept of consonance as it applies to the aesthetic experience of adults who visit a Fine Arts museum. Generally, when describing a visitor’s reaction to art, we do not talk in terms of conflict or harmony, but adopt the expression ‘aesthetic experience’. Much research has been conducted to describe aesthetic experience, for example, the research undertaken by Csikszentmihalyi and Robinson, 1990; Guillot, 2001; Housen, 1983). We are aware of the complexity of the term and the scope of its meaning in philosophy.