Viewing a great work of art enriches and helps develop the brain and is especially important for children, according to new, independent research commissioned by the Netherlands’ Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague. The study also found that today, with so many fake, AI-generated images, even a faithful reproduction of a great work has significantly less effect on the brain than the original. Of the works tested, it was Johannes Vermeer’s 1665 portrait, Girl with a Pearl Earring, that commanded the most attention and had the most effect compared to the effect of a copy. Twenty volunteers were tested and the results were as much as ten times more cognitive engagement with the original Vermeer, in contrast to a reproduction. The Mauritshuis director, Martine Gosselink said: “The brain doesn’t lie…. It’s so important to engage with art.”
Humans when confronted with a stranger naturally respond by looking at the face, but in the case of the Vermeer portrait, we are captured by her gaze. The researchers discovered a frequent pattern, where the viewer first focuses on the portrait’s eyes, then the viewer looks down at the mouth, and finally the viewer is drawn to the pearl earring. However, instead of moving on to the next painting, the viewer usually repeats this same cycle of focal points several times.
