Different knowledge, different aesthetic experiences (and vice versa)?

Do different kinds of knowledge lead to different aesthetic experiences (and vice versa)? This paper addresses this question by examining the role of (art) knowledge within an interactionist perspective. Contemporary theories increasingly conceptualize aesthetic experience as emerging from the interaction between perceiver, stimuli, and contexts rather than from isolated properties of artworks or perceivers alone. Despite this theoretical shift, empirical research still often investigates knowledge as a characteristic of perceivers. We argue for a broader and more integrative understanding of knowledge that distinguishes between internal knowledge, residing within the perceiver, and external knowledge, provided by the environment. Internal knowledge encompasses prior experiences, competencies, and beliefs, whereas external knowledge includes information embedded in contextual features such as exhibition settings, curatorial texts, and other environmental cues. Drawing on empirical literature and illustrative findings from museum and laboratory studies, we show that aesthetic experiences are shaped by the continuous interaction between these two forms of knowledge. External knowledge can activate relevant internal knowledge, guide expectations, and support interpretation, while internal knowledge influences how viewers engage with artworks, seek additional information, and construct meaning. This reciprocal process can generate new insights that become incorporated into future knowledge structures, thereby influencing subsequent aesthetic encounters. Our perspective aligns with phenomenological perspectives emphasizing situated and embodied engagement with the world. We conclude that variations in aesthetic experiences give rise to differences in knowledge (and vice versa), and more specifically, that this is due to the interaction between internal and external forms of knowledge during aesthetic experiences.