Denotative and connotative meanings of paintings

In this study the relationships between judgments of paintings denotative and connotative meanings was investigated. Denotative domain was defined as motif (represented object, e.g. portrait, landscape etc.) and message (information carried by paintings, e.g. celebration of patriotism). Connotative domain was defined as subjective experience, i.e. affective or metaphoric impression produced by painting (e.g. feeling of pleasure, impression of dynamics, and so on). In preliminary study the list of 39 motifs was specified empirically. The four dimensions of pictorial message were taken from the previous study (Marković, 2006): Subjectivism, Ideology, Decoration and Constructivism vs. Realism. The four dimensions of paintings subjective experience were taken from the previous study as well (Radonjić and Marković, 2005): Regularity, Attraction, Arousal and Relaxation. In Experiment 1 subjects were asked to associate 39 motifs with 18 paintings. In Experiment 2 subjects were asked to judge 24 paintings on four dimensions of pictorial message. Results form Experiment 1 have shown that dimensions of paintings subjective experience were significantly correlated with only five motifs (e.g. everyday life was negatively correlated with Arousal, battle was negatively correlated with Relaxation, and so on). Results from Experiment 2 have shown that Subjectivism and Constructivism are negatively correlated with Regularity, and positively correlated with Arousal. Decoration is negatively correlated with Arousal and positively with Attraction and Relaxation