2024-10-04 17:24:48
Girl with a Pearl Earring” is revealed.”/>
Scientists from the company Neurensics have uncovered the mystery of Jan Vermeer‘s painting “Girl with a Pearl Earring”, kept in the Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague. They measured the brain activity of viewers looking at the portrait and discovered a unique neurological phenomenon called the “persistent attention loop.” As Day.Az reports, this was reported in a press release on Phys.org.
It turned out that when looking at a painting, the viewer’s attention moves cyclically between the eye, mouth and pearl in the portrait. This creates a “loop” that makes a person look at the painting longer and makes it especially attractive to the eye. This phenomenon, according to scientists, is unique to this work of Vermeer.
Electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods were used to conduct the study. Subjects were fitted with a device to track eye movements and brain activity while viewing the painting and its reproductions. This allowed us to accurately record how viewers react to each element of the portrait.
The results showed that the greatest activity was observed in the precuneus, an area of the brain associated with self-awareness and personal identity. It was also found that the emotional reaction to the original painting was ten times stronger than to the reproduction. This emphasizes the importance of directly experiencing an authentic work of art.
Interestingly, “Girl with a Pearl Earring” differs from other paintings by Vermeer in that it contains three focal points – the eye, mouth and pearl, while in other paintings the artist focuses on one point. The study’s findings highlight that Vermeer’s painting has a special impact on the viewer due to neurological features of perception.