What is it about?
This project introduces a curated set of non-Eurocentric artworks — including murals, religious pieces, and culturally significant works from Mexico, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. Over 800 people rated the artworks on a range of emotional and cognitive responses, from beauty and liking to feelings of understanding, enraptured, and challenge. The result is a research-ready, publicly available database designed to help scientists study how people experience diverse forms of art in meaningful and nuanced ways.
Featured Image
Photo by Jose Antonio Gallego Vázquez on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Most art research relies on traditional Western paintings, often ignoring global or unconventional art forms. This project challenges that norm by spotlighting underrepresented artistic traditions, from sacred art to public murals, and providing standardized ratings from a large, diverse participant sample. It enables researchers to ask better, more inclusive questions about how art impacts thought and emotion. This database pushes the field of empirical aesthetics toward greater cultural relevance, inclusivity, and real-world resonance. Access the interactive app here: https://tinyurl.com/5n886zhm
Perspectives
By including sacred works, murals, and visual cultures beyond the Western canon, we hope to support research that reflects the richness of human expression. The emotional and cognitive reactions of over 800 participants offer a powerful way to explore how people connect with art that feels personal, unfamiliar, or culturally distant. This project is about shifting the lens and opening new doors in the science of aesthetic experience.
Vicente Estrada Gonzalez
University of Sydney
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A normed art database that incorporates diverse cultures and genres: The Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics artwork repository., Psychology of Aesthetics Creativity and the Arts, April 2025, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/aca0000755.
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