ABSTRACT
Many visitors see museums as an invaluable educational resource. The variety of museums available offers many different possibilities to learn and to interact with the collections. In an art museum one expects that there will also be possibilities for the visitor not only to learn facts but also to have experiences which we call aesthetic. As pointed out, ‘the aesthetic experience provides visceral, holistic, and greatly rewarding sensations that are absent from purely cognitive activities’ (Csikszentmihalyi and Robinson 1990: 12). Yet not a great deal is known about people's aesthetic reactions in an art museum context. What do we mean by aesthetic response? What are the factors that influence aesthetic responses? Do we have to consider developmental issues when planning experiences for school-aged visitors?
