Vermeer’s masterpiece ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ has inspired everything from books and plays to a film starring Scarlett Johansson.
But while it is widely considered one of the most fascinating works of art ever made, it has taken scientists almost 400 years to discover why.
Now, neuroscientists have revealed that the 17th century oil painting uses a “unique” psychological trick called the “sustained attention loop” that keeps the viewer in place.
Researchers believe this unique effect could even explain the appeal of great works of art like the Mona Lisa.
Martin de Munnic, co-founder of the neuroscience company Neurensics, who led the study, says: “You have to pay attention whether you want to or not.” You have to love her whether you like it or not.
Scientists have revealed that Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ is due to a psychological effect called ‘sustained attention loop’
Researchers put 20 participants in caps that tracked their brain activity and gaze to see how great works of art affect the mind.
The mystery of ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ has spawned adaptations ranging from books and plays to a film starring Scarlett Johansson (left) and Colin Firth (right).
Painted by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer in 1665, Girl with a Pearl Earring has long been admired as one of the most important paintings of its time.
But to understand what makes this painting so appealing, the Mauritshuis Museum where the painting is housed invited neuroscientists to study how our brains react to art.
The researchers fitted 20 participants with special EEG headsets that recorded their brain activity while eye trackers recorded where they were looking.
This revealed that ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ has a unique attention-grabbing effect.
Mr de Munnic says: ‘It was predictable that the Girl would be special. But the “why” was also a surprise to us.
‘Normally, when you look at a face, you look at the eyes, the mouth, and that’s it, because then you’ve determined whether that person is “safe” or not. Not with “Girl with a Pearl Earring.”
Vermeer is well known for leaving most of his paintings soft and blurry, while some details are made especially sharp to attract the viewer’s attention.
In ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ Vermeer uses three of these points of focus: the mouth, the eyes and the earring.
So instead of sliding out of the painting after a quick glance, the viewer’s gaze is drawn in a triangle from the eyes to the mouth, the earring, and back to the eyes.
The painting draws the viewer’s attention in a circular triangle from the eyes to the mouth, the earring and back to the eyes. This diagram shows areas of focused attention in dark red.
Scientists say this effect could help explain why large paintings like the Mona Lisa are so captivating.
While much of the painting is left vague and blurred, Vermeer includes extremely fine detail in areas meant to draw attention. These microscope photographs reveal how Vermeer even painted eyelashes that are only visible through X-ray images (right)
This looping effect means that viewers will look at the face in the painting for much longer than faces in other paintings.
Researchers believe this gaze-holding effect could explain why ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ and other great paintings like it are so compelling.
Mr. de Munnic says: “The more you look at someone, the more beautiful or more attractive they become.”
‘Why are you familiar with this painting and not the other paintings? Because of this special thing he has.’
The neuroscientists behind the study, which they plan to publish as an academic paper, now say they would like to repeat the study with other paintings, including the Mona Lisa.
Referring to the humorous rivalry between the two paintings, the director of Mauritshuis, Martine Gosselink he told AFP: ‘People sometimes call “The Girl with the Pearl Earring” the Mona Lisa of the North, but I think times are changing, so maybe the Mona Lisa is the Girl of the South.’
In addition to uncovering the sustained attentional loop, the researchers found new details that could explain why we find art so moving.
Data collected by the EEG caps found that participants who looked at artwork experienced the greatest activation in a region of the brain called the precuneus.
A 3D digital photomicrograph shows the pearl at 140x magnification (1.1 μm/pixel). This is one of three extremely sharp focal points that draw the viewer’s attention in a loop.
Scientists found that people’s emotional responses were 10 times more powerful when looking at real art compared to posters. Pictured: A study participant examines art at the Mauritshuis Museum where ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ is on display
This area is particularly associated with consciousness, personal identity, and memory retrieval.
To further investigate this connection, the team of neuroscientists compared people’s brain activity while looking at posters of large works of art with their activity while looking at real objects.
They found that participants’ emotional responses were 10 times stronger when watching the original.
This means that seeing authentic art in a museum has a much greater impact on our minds at a neurological level than seeing the same images in other places.
Or, as Mrs. Gosselink says, “the brain doesn’t lie.”