About the Role of Perceptual Psychology in Art History

What is it about?

Humankind’s earliest works of art bear witness to a deep, albeit intuitive, knowledge of perceptual sciences, particularly the psychology of perception. Artists always used targeted techniques relevant to the psychology of perception to control perception and increase the impact of their works. Knowledge of steering and enhancement mechanisms was fragmentary and was not fully documented because the artists’ intuitive perceptual knowledge was never systematically transmitted across the generations. Without the dedicated and holistic inclusion of the scientific field of the psychology of perception, both the creators of artworks and the artworks created remain soulless and meaningless. This programmatic paper aims to make clear why both disciplines should work closely together and shows what such fruitful paths of joint work could look like.

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