Reproductions of great paintings in art albums, of course, do not replace meeting with them in the museum hall, but they make these paintings accessible to many people.
And besides, they enhance the sharpness of our perception and positive impressions of the original. This conclusion was made by researcher Andras Farkas from the Institute of Psychology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
He selected 20 masterpieces from the collection of the Old Masters Gallery in Budapest and conducted an experiment: one half of the study participants first looked at the reproductions in the album, and then the originals in the museum, while the other did the same, but only in reverse order.
It turned out that genuine works were rated higher by those who had previously seen reproductions of them and were thus emotionally prepared to meet with a masterpiece.