Babies bias for Van Gogh – new study finds taste in art is present from babyhood
Posted on behalf of: Poppy Luckett
Last updated: Wednesday, 2 August 2023
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University of Sussex study finds babies and adults have similar taste in Van Gogh paintings
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Findings suggest aspects of artistic preferences are hardwired from an early age
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Babies prefer paintings that contain more edges, such as leaves or branches
We generally associate babies with finger painting rather than fine art but new research from the University of Sussex's "Baby Lab" suggests that some of our adult artistic preferences are present from as young as four months old.
The research from the Sussex psychologists helps build an understanding of how babies see the world and how artistic preferences develop. For the study, the research team showed pairs of Dutch post-impressionist, Vincent Van Gogh’s landscapes to baby and adult participants. They recorded the amount of time infants looked at each painting and asked adult participants which they found the most pleasant.
The researchers found distinct shared artistic preferences between the adult and baby participants. Paintings that featured high colour and lightness contrasts, and lots of the colour green, were looked at longest by the babies and rated most highly by the adults. Babies typically looked longer at the Van Gogh landscapes that adults found most pleasant. Babies and adults had a shared preference for Van Gogh’s ‘Green Corn Stalks’
The scientists found differences in artistic taste across the generational divide too, with the babies demonstrating a preference for paintings that contained the most edges (such as the edges of branches and leaves) and curved lines. Neither of these were as highly favoured by the adults.
Philip McAdams, Doctoral Researcher at the University of Sussex, and lead author on the paper, said:
"It was fascinating to find that babies respond to the basic building blocks of the paintings, such as edges and colours, and that these properties could explain large amounts of why babies look at, and adults like, particular artworks. Our study also appears to have identified features of adult aesthetics that can be traced back to sensory biases in infancy. Our findings show that babies' visual systems and visual preferences are more sophisticated than commonly thought.”
The team worked with 25 babies between four and eight months old, and 25 adults, aged 18+. They conducted the research remotely during the Covid 19 pandemic by using carefully calibrated tablets so that all the images looked the same to different babies and adults using different tablets.
The shared most preferred Van Gogh painting for babies and adults taking part in the study was Green Corn Stalks (1888) whilst the shared least preferred was Olive Grove (1889).
Professor Anna Franklin, Head of the Sussex Colour Group and founder of the Sussex Baby Lab, and lead author on the paper, said:
“We’ve been amazed by how much the young babies responded to the art. Although newborn babies’ vision is very blurry, our findings demonstrate that by four-months-old, babies can see well enough to look longer at some paintings than others, and can pay attention to many of the artistic details.”
The researchers, who worked in collaboration with children’s sensory brand ‘Etta Loves’ on the research, also hope that the findings will have a positive impact by helping children’s designers to create engaging products best suited to infant vision.