Editor’s note: The analysis presented here is based on research and writing by
Jacqueline Hu (Freshman, University of Southern California) founder of
Arthentic Joy, a dedicated non-profit raising awareness about art’s profound impact on mental health. This article adapts her exploration of phenomenology and visual art into a format suitable for web publication.
Art is not only about what is painted, but how it is seen. Phenomenology, the philosophical study of human experience, provides a framework for understanding this dynamic. By considering the role of perception, phenomenology asks us to reflect on how works of art engage with our senses and how viewpoint in particular shapes our response.
Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French and Dutch paintings demonstrate how decisions of perspective and composition can immerse the viewer, push them to the margins, or position them as silent observers. Through close analysis of works by Pieter Claesz, Nicolas Tournier, Adriaen van Ostade, and Jean-Baptiste Joseph Pater, it becomes clear that viewpoint is one of the most powerful tools artists have for directing the viewer’s lived experience of art.
Immersion at the Table
Pieter Claesz’s Still Life (1643) exemplifies how viewpoint can draw the viewer directly into the scene. Painted at life-size scale, the delicacies of oysters and caviar are presented as if the audience is seated before the table. By aligning perspective at a sitting height, Claesz situates viewers as participants about to enjoy the meal, their perception grounded in a naturalistic experience (Meagher, 2009; Lamp, 2016).
Nicolas Tournier takes a similar approach in Banquet Scene with a Lute Player (1625), yet with a twist. Instead of placing us comfortably at the table, he angles the perspective toward a corner, where the figures’ facial expressions, especially the disapproving gaze of one man, make the viewer feel unwelcome. Neuroscience helps explain this reaction: through the mirror neuron system, our brains respond empathetically to observed expressions, producing sensations of unease (Kandel, 2024).
This duality, inclusion through perspective, exclusion through expression, creates a layered, immersive experience. The narrative hints of a courtesan’s scheme, suggested by her gesturing hand and glance at a servant, reinforce that the viewer is not a neutral onlooker but implicated in the unfolding drama.
In Le Concert (1630), Tournier once again manipulates viewpoint. Here, the angle suggests a seated position, as though the viewer is listening to music. Yet three performers turn their gaze directly outward, placing a subtle pressure on the audience. The viewer is drawn in but simultaneously made to feel the discomfort of scrutiny.
Beyond the Canvas: Gallery Conditions
While artists establish a painting’s viewpoint, the museum environment also shapes perception. For example, the dim lighting in the St. Louis Art Museum’s European galleries echoes the chiaroscuro of Tournier’s works, making the painted and physical spaces blur together. Curatorial choices about lighting and arrangement extend the immersive effect beyond the canvas itself.
By contrast, other galleries produce distance. Brighter settings highlight tonal differences, positioning viewers less as participants and more as detached spectators. This interplay between art and environment underscores phenomenology’s claim: the act of seeing art is always shaped by context.
Detachment and Observation
Adriaen van Ostade’s Peasants Dancing in a Tavern (1659) offers a counterpoint. Its modest size and domestic purpose already signal intimacy, but the perspective places the viewer outside the party. Figures turn away, and lighting situates the audience in shadow, as though peering in unseen (Honig et al., 2023). The viewer is connected to the scene yet denied full entry, an observer of life rather than a participant.
Jean-Baptiste Joseph Pater’s Repose in a Park (1730) produces a similar detachment. Wealthy figures enjoy leisure outdoors, but none meet the viewer’s gaze. In contrast with Ostade, the setting is aristocratic, but both paintings provoke reflection on social class: whether peasants or elites, humans across history have found time for amusement. Viewpoint guides not only visual experience but also the broader themes viewers carry away.
Art Beyond the Gallery
As philosopher Alva Noë has argued, artworks “put us and our picture-making activities on display, in a way that enables us to do it all differently” (Noë, 2023). Paintings not only shape how we see while standing before them; they influence how we think about the world afterward.
Tournier’s Banquet Scene suggests the unnoticed power of marginalized figures, with its subtle scheming subplot. Pater’s Repose in a Park prompts us to consider the conformity of social standards by contrasting stiff human figures with freer, non-human apparitions. These details are not mere embellishments: they encourage viewers to question assumptions about class, agency, and human experience.
Conclusion
Viewpoint is never a neutral choice. By deciding where to place the spectator, artists shape not only how a painting is seen but how it is lived. Claesz immerses us in sensory realism; Tournier includes us only to unsettle us; Ostade and Pater hold us at arm’s length, making us reflective observers.
As art historian Alois Riegl suggested, a work is not complete until the viewer responds. In this sense, phenomenology and art converge: both recognize that perception is central to meaning. The choices artists make about viewpoint ripple outward, affecting how audiences see the world long after they leave the gallery.
References
● Honig, E. A., Stewart, J. S., & Cui, Y. (2023). Economic Histories of Netherlandish Art. Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art.
● Kandel, E. (2024). The Creative Brain—Essays on Art and Science. The Transmitter.
● Lamp, L. (2016). Design in Art: Scale and Proportion. Sophia.
● Meagher, J. (2009). Food and Drink in European Painting, 1400–1800. The Met.
● Noë, A. (2023). The Entanglement. Princeton University Press.
