Ikonikat: looking at art with different eyes

How do we look at a work of art? That is the question that sociologist Mathias Blanc is trying to answer in coordinating an ambitious project combining art history, sociology and computer science.
Using the Ikonikat application, CNRS researchers have been trying to understand how images are perceived by different beholders. They found out that the way people look at a work of art depends on their sociological profile in a recent research at the Museum of Fine Arts in Lille on a painting by Jean-Baptiste Wicar. Meanwhile, they also used this system at the Louvre Lens during an exhibition entitled “Les mysteries Le Nain” (Le Nain's Mysteries) with the long-term goal to raise the interest of new comers to art by adapting the museum narrative to the public. At the same time, the testimonies gathered will also feed the work of the experts, to provide with a fresh perspective on works of art, even iconic ones.