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Caught on canvas: Facial expressions in art
Zoe Thurtle1, Daniele Zavagno2, Anna Maria Di Betta1
1Department of Psychology, Sheffield Institute of Social Sciences, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK.
I-Perception
|August 14, 2026
Summary
Facial expressions in art can be classified into basic emotions, but many artworks show complex, multifaceted emotions. This suggests artists can portray nuanced affective signals, enabling new emotion research databases.
Area of Science:
- Art history
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Facial expressions are key to human emotional communication.
- Classifying emotions in visual art remains a challenge.
- Understanding emotional portrayal in art offers insights into perception.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if basic emotion categories reliably classify facial expressions in artworks.
- To investigate the prevalence of multifaceted emotions in art.
- To explore the potential for art-based emotion research.
Main Methods:
- Participants classified emotions in 116 cropped portraits.
- Six basic emotion categories were used for classification.
- Analysis focused on response consistency and distribution.
Main Results:
- Approximately 50% of artworks elicited consistent emotion classifications.
- The remaining artworks showed distributed judgments, indicating multifaceted emotions.
- Multifaceted emotions represent layered or uncertain affective signals.
Conclusions:
- Artists can effectively portray both basic and complex emotional states.
- Artworks can serve as a valuable resource for studying nuanced emotional perception.
- Findings support the development of an artwork-based emotion database.
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