Three Forms of Tears at Art Museums: A Phenomenological Study of Viewers’ Tear-Shedding Experiences Through Blog Narratives

Abstract

This study proposed that viewers’ experiential accounts of shedding tears in art museums in their blog narratives can help understand the distinctive characteristics of the tear-shedding experience in visual arts. This study systematically examined 34 accounts of shedding tears from blog narratives following a phenomenological approach. It identified recurrent themes (constituents) and clustered them into three groups according to theme profile similarities. During the moment of tears from sudden overwhelming stimulation (Cluster II), an apparent bidirectional empathic process emerged when viewers shed tears during visual art appreciation. Viewers could empathize with the world depicted in the artwork (Cluster III) and felt understood when they encountered their innermost selves through it (Cluster I). The study's findings offer a compelling basis for empirically identifying the meaning of the tear-shedding experience from visual arts in the fine art domain while integrating previous studies.