The effect of background music on the aesthetic experience of a visual artwork in a naturalistic environment

Aesthetic evaluations can be highly influenced by a myriad of individual and situational factors. Interestingly, little is yet known about the possible effects of background music on the aesthetic experience of visual art. Here, we examined whether musical emotions would influence different dimensions of the aesthetic experience of a visual artwork displayed in a naturalistic environment. A total of 142 visitors of a contemporary art museum appreciated an abstract painting by Wassily Kandinsky while listening to background music conveying different emotions (happy, sad, peaceful, scary) or silence. Our findings suggest that music valence significantly influenced participants’ judgment of the pleasantness of the painting. In addition, music likability had a significant effect on participants’ judgments of the artwork’s valence, beauty, and liking. Specifically, participants who liked the background music rated these dimensions of the artwork aesthetic experience significantly more positively than those who disliked the music. Overall, these results suggest that aspects associated with the aesthetic experience of music may influence the aesthetic experience of visual art, opening new avenues for the investigation of cognitive processes underlying the aesthetic experience induced by objects across different media.