Walking into a Modern Painting: The Impacts of Using Virtual Reality on Student Learning Performance and Experiences in Art Appreciation

This study reconstructed a modern painting into a fully-immersive Virtual Reality (VR) painting allowing users to walk into the painting’s 3D world and move around, and employed constructivism with a model of art appreciation to investigate the effects of applying VR techniques in appreciating the modern painting on student learning outcomes. Participants in the study included 60 undergraduates from a university in the midwestern United States. Quasi-experimental study designs and quantitative analysis methods were adopted to analyze students’ responses to the activities of modern painting appreciation through 2D and VR paintings. Results indicated that using the VR painting had significant negative impacts on students’ performance of object recognition in the painting and interpretations towards the painting, but no effects on the painting analysis and judgements. Students using the VR painting showed significantly higher interest and enjoyment than those using the 2D painting. Compared to those viewing the VR painting prior to the 2D painting appreciation, students who only viewed the 2D painting had significantly better learning performance. This study contributes to the lack of empirical VR research in art appreciation, offering insights into the application of using VR in appreciating modern paintings, and providing recommendations for future studies.