THE SCIENCE OF ART
MONA LISA BY LEONARDO DA
LOOKING GOOD
SINCE 1506
But why? Stylist reveals the secret tricks that turn a painting into a masterpiece
trip to Paris
wouldn’t be
A complete
without
cocktails at
Hôtel Costes, shopping at
Chanel and, of course, a trip
to the Louvre. Over eight
million people visit every year,
making it the most popular
museum in the world. For
most of them, the main draw
is the Mona Lisa – the modest
painting by Leonardo da
Vinci, which centuries after
its creation – is still celebrated
and studied.
VINCI, PAINTED BETWEEN
1503 AND 1506
But what is it about
Mona Lisa that makes her so
seductive? According to a new
school of science, there’s more
to it than da Vinci’s brush
strokes. Neuroesthetics – the
study of how and why we
respond to art – is a growing
area of science which believes
there is no mystery to our love
of certain paintings. It believes
artists use visual trickery, which
we then unconsciously decode,
enhancing our personal
relationship with the artwork.
Painters employ these
tricks or ‘laws of artistic
 experience’ as
neurologist VS
W E E P I N G WO M A N B Y
Ramachandran calls them, to PA B L O P I C A S S O, 1 9 3 7
stimulate different visual areas
of our brain. Take, for example, W H E R E T O S E E I T: TAT E L I V E R P O O L
the peak shift principle: you
This painting was inspired of the face in Weeping
can train a rat to discriminate
by the horror Picasso Woman evoke our memories
between shapes by giving it
witnessed in the Spanish of facial components; but
food every time it sees a
Civil War, in particular one it holds our attention…
rectangle and nothing when
woman he saw holding her because it challenges [us],
it sees a square. It starts to
dead child and mourning. we have to work hard to
prefer the rectangle. But show
But, raw emotions aside, interpret it.” The painting
the rat a longer rectangle and
the Cubist movement this also taps into our emotions.
it loves it even more. Why?
painting belongs to, expertly “Negative emotions are
The rat is learning a rule
taps into our desire to solve associated with an area
– rectangularity. The more
problems. “When we look at of the brain called the
obviously rectangular a shape,
a real face we see it like amygdala.” The visceral
the more it’s drawn towards it.
a photograph and our eyes depiction of one woman’s
What does this have to do
fixate on things like the pain and grief activates
with art? Artists throughout
eyes, hair and profile,” says this section of the brain,
the ages have used the same
Christopher Tyler, head giving us a deeper emotional
technique to stimulate our
HEY WEEPING WOMAN of the SK Brain Imaging connection with the
unconscious. Famous bronzes WHY THE ANGULAR FACE? Centre, San Francisco. painting before us, even
of extremely curvaceous
“The combined elements once we have left it.
women created in India in the
12th century for example, take
the female body and amplify it.
The result, says Ramachandran,
is instant brain stimulus, which
makes the pieces iconic.
Other laws include isolation
(the reason an outline by
Picasso can be more evocative
than a colour image) and
problem solving (making the
brain overcome a puzzle
engages us, as with Dalí’s work).
Knowing these laws exist
means we can understand our
love of art, says Semir Zeki,
professor of neuroesthetics at
University College London.
“The artist is, in a sense,
a neuroscientist exploring the
brain with different tools. How
such creations can arouse
aesthetic experiences can only
be fully understood in neural
terms. Such an understanding
is now well within our reach.”
This is because scientific
advancements mean
neuroscientists can visually
map how the brain reacts
to external stimuli like art.
THE ENIGMA OF DESIRE.
So what’s Mona Lisa’s secret? NOT A PIECE OF CHEESE
Thomas Papathomas of the
Laboratory of Vision Research
says: “One study shows that if THE ENIGMA OF DESIRE: MY MOTHER, MY MOTHER,
we focus on [her] eyes, she
becomes more smiley because
M Y M O T H E R B Y S A LVA D O R DA L Í , 1 9 2 9
our peripheral vision picks up W H E R E T O S E E I T: M U S E U M O F M O D E R N A R T, B R U S S E L S ( C L O S E D F O R R E N OVAT I O N U N T I L 2 0 1 2 )
low spatial frequencies – or
‘shadows’ from her cheekbones. Can’t get Dalí’s weird and separate processes in our a coherent, rational image want to fully comprehend
When focus shifts to her mouth, wonderful creations out of brain: top-down processes we can easily understand. what’s going on. When the
those shadows elude us and your head? One theory of (which generate an initial But when we look at a bottom-up mechanisms say
she looks less happy.” These visual perception might hypotheses of what we are painting like this (one of ‘Yes, that’s what you’re seeing’
tricks intrigue us and make us explain why his dreamlike seeing) and bottom-up Dalí’s earliest works inspired we’re forced to accept this
return to her face again and images have become so processes (which supply the by a dream of his mother, new ‘surreality’. “That’s
again. Here experts reveal the iconic. We make hypotheses information to test that with strange, contradictory what makes this, and other
techniques behind more of the about a visual stimulus (such hypothesis). Normally these elements merged together), Surrealist works, so
world’s most famous paintings… as a painting) using two two fit well together, making our brains are confused and memorable,” says Papathomas.

 X W W W ST Y L I ST C OU K
 THE SCIENCE OF ART

SU N F L OW E R S BY V I N C E N T
VA N G O G H , 1 8 8 8
W H E R E T O S E E I T: T H E N AT I O N A L G A L L E R Y, L O N D O N

Sunflowers is one of the most made happy when all of the

iconic images in the world, one
of four paintings of the blooms
created by the Dutch artist
between from August and
September 1888. Now one of
the most popular paintings in
London’s National Gallery, it
is the image that the gallery
most often reproduces on
posters, mugs and stationery.
For some people though, only
the original is good enough.
In 1987, Japanese collector
canvas is filled, and the second
is the peak shift principle.
“Our brains are more likely
to remember exaggerated
stimuli than those that are real
– in fact, studies have shown
that we recognise a person
from a caricature quicker than
we do from their photograph.”
He explains, “Van Gogh’s
sunflowers are exaggerated
and are almost caricature-like
in their shape, form and colour,

“OUR BRAINS ARE MORE LIKELY

TO REMEMBER EXAGGERATED
STIMULI THAN REAL THINGS”
Yasuo Goto paid the
equivalent of £25 million for
the painting, smashing the
previously held record paid
for art of £7.5 million for
Andrea Mantegna’s Adoration
Of The Magi in 1985. But why
exactly was Goto so keen to
hang on his wall? And why do
so many of us want to see
it on our keyrings and kitchen
walls? Van Gogh could have
used various principles in the
creation of the iconic piece,
VAN GOGH’S SUNFLOWERS: says Papathomas. The first,
NOT £2.99 FROM
THE LOCAL GARAGE…
according to neuroesthetics,
is that we are satisfied and
which means that we
remember them more than we
would a ‘normal’ image
of sunflowers. Picasso and
Monet also used this principle
in their work.”
There is also the use of
different shades of yellow.
Our visual cortex likes to
see the distinct contrast
between different colours, but
Sunflowers uses numerous
shades of one colour, yellow,
and we are drawn to study
the small differences between
them making it almost
impossible to look away.

WAT E R L I LY P O N D
B Y C L AU D E M O N E T, 1 9 0 0
O N L OA N F R O M N AT I O N A L G A L L E R Y

The Impressionists – their most As well as using repetition,

prominent artist, Monet, in
particular – created work we
fall in love with. How? By going
straight for our emotions. Each
emotion we feel – pleasure,
disgust, fear, anger – represents
a different pattern of activity
in the limbic system and the
subject of this painting is likely
to cause a flurry of activity
which consolidates happy
memories. “Most scientists
argue that almost all cognitive
and affective associations are
learned. So here, the concept
of lilies on a pond is likely to
create a sense of calm and joy
as we remember swimming
in such a pool or basking in
the sun beside it,” says Tyler.
one of Ramachandran’s ‘laws’
that humans find pleasing,
Impressionist paintings are
also loved for their beautiful
colours. Brain-imaging studies
have shown that certain areas
of the brain actually ‘light up’
for colour, says Tyler.
The movements also,
according to Papathomas,
used colour tricks – such as
putting yellow next to red to
make it look orange when
viewed from a distance – which
makes our brain question what
its processing. In this sense
Impressionist Monet and
Surrealist Dalí’s works are not
as dissimilar as they might
seem at first glance. WATER LILY POND BY MONET:
MAKES YOU THINK OF SUN
AND SWIMMING. NOT UNLIKE
LISTENING TO CLUB TROPICANA
THE SCIENCE OF ART

DAVID HOCKNEY, MAKING A
SPLASH IN THE ART WORLD.
SORRY COULDN’T RESIST
A BIGGER SPLASH
E S CA P I N G C R I T I C I S M BY P E R E
B O R R E L L D E L CA S O, 1874
W H E R E T O S E E I T: B A N C O D E E S PA Ñ A , M A D R I D
This is one of the most famous
works from the trompe l’oeil
(‘trick of the eye’) movement,
and the three-dimensional feel
of it activates key areas of the
brain, says Tyler. But how is this
achieved? “When we look at a
‘flat’ painting it can have lots of
depth but we don’t think it’s a
real object. Del Caso – and
other trompe l’oeil works such
as the infamous Cabinet
Of Curiosities (a flat canvas
painting which gives the
impression of being an open
glass cabinet) – go the extra
mile by manipulating our cues
to depth so that our brain
TEST YOUR
BRAIN AT
THESE
momentarily thinks, ‘Is this
a real object?’” says Dr Priscilla
EXHIBITIONS
Heard, neuropsychologist at
the University of the West
of England. “He tricks us into
thinking the boy is in front
of the frame and actually
climbing out, by using shadows
(particularly those on the MIRO’S MAY 1968 DEALS
WITH THE PARIS
frame) and the occlusion of the RIOTS OF THAT YEAR
frame by the boy’s hand. The
nearer parts are brighter and
M I R Ó, TAT E
there’s an exaggeration of the 1
M O D E R N,
size differences of the boy.” It’s
LO N D O N. 14 April-11
the difference between our
September (tate.org.uk)
logical understanding of the
Challenge your brain to
image, and the image itself, that
understand the surrealist
makes this so memorable.
images in this major
exhibition from one of
the world’s greats.

B Y DAV I D H O C K N E Y, 1 9 6 7 2
C E Z A N N E TO
PICASSO:

WORDS: CHRISTINA Q UAINE A DDITIONAL WO RDS: J ULIA M AILE PHOTO GRAPHY: CORB IS , GET T Y IMAGES, FRANCIS G MAYER/CORBIS, CHRISTIE’S IMAGES/CORBIS,
A R C H I V E D I N T H E TAT E C O L L E C T I O N EUROPEAN MASTERS,
PA L L A N T H O U S E
Hockney is famed for his try to establish exactly how G A L L E RY, LO N D O N.
stylised depictions of our brain responds to Until 13 March (pallant.
swimming pools, and the motion – or implied motion org.uk) Test your
success of this painting – as signalled by the splash problem-solving abilities

THE GALLERY COL LECT IO N/CO RBIS , RE X F EATURE S, J OAN M IRÓ MAY 1968 1968–1973 © JOAN MIRÓ AND FUNDACIÓ JOAN MIRÓ, BARCELONA
could be due to his strictly in this painting. They found with paintings by Cubist
ordered structure, another that there are specific areas masters including Picasso
neuroesthetics rule. in the mind responsible for and Severini.
“The intense colours are coding movement, and
RESPECTIVE
efficiently segmented into images like this could 3
PERSPECTIVES,
large areas of uniform engage and stimulate them.
D RU M C R O O N G A L L E RY,
colour; we find this Finally, Hockney taps into
L A NC A S H I R E . Until 8
orderliness pleasing,” says our desire to solve
April (drumcroon.org.uk)
Papathomas. “The content problems; we use our
Reminiscent of the
is memorable, too. Hockney experience to interpret the
trompe l’oeil movement,
painted the scene a moment large blue surface at the
trick your eyes with the
after someone dived in bottom of the picture as a
three-dimensional works
and our visual brain must swimming pool (despite the
by Patrick Hughes and
interpret what has fact there are no reflections)
Paul Critchley.
happened.” Our attempt and we presume that
to understand what we see someone has just dived in, A C O L L E C TO R’S
4
lasts only milliseconds, but explains Papathomas. We E Y E : C R A NAC H
the effect has an impact are engaging more deeply ESCAPING CRITICISM: TO P I S S A R R O, WA L K E R
ONCE YOU START LOOKING
for longer. In fact, scientific with the image we see, YOU CAN’T STOP
G A L L E RY, L I V E R P O O L .
studies have been done to making it personal to us. 18 Feb-15 May (liverpool
museums.org.uk)
Discover if the colours
used by Impressionists
OTHER WAYS OUR BRAINS ARE TRICKED such as Pissarro and
Sisley really do trigger
A D V ERTISING SHOP PIN G F OOD happy memories.
We may think that ads simply tell us Stores have long used tricks to Studies have shown that labelling DAV I D H O C K N E Y:
5
the benefits of a product. But, says part us from our money, such as a food ‘low fat’ actually makes us BIGGER TREES
Melanie Dempsey and Andrew enticing smells and flattering eat more. A US study found that N E A R WA RT E R , YO R K
Mitchell, authors of a study on mirrors. Ikea has gone one step when two bowls of sweets were G A L L E RY, YO R K . 12
advertising, they use a technique further according to Alan Penn presented, one with the ‘low fat’ Feb-12 June (yorkart
called ‘affective conditioning’. from UCL, deliberately creating label, people ate 28% more of gallery.org.uk) Admire
Simply put, this places the product a layout that is so confusing that the supposedly low-fat variety. Hockney’s trees in his
next to something we already feel customers put items in the trolley We also regularly underestimate largest painting to date,
good about (eg flowers) and our straightaway, knowing they will be the number of calories in available to view for the
feelings will be transferred. too difficult to find again later. supposedly ‘low fat’ foods. first time outside London.

4 2 u W W W. ST Y L I ST .C O.U K