“How Does This Artwork Make You Feel?” A “No-No” Question in Art Museum Education?

Motivated by a pedagogical dilemma common in museum education--whether ever to ask viewers how a work makes them feel--I elaborate on varied ways in which emotional life enters our encounters with art. To address this ancient issue from a new perspective--that of museum education--I draw upon aesthetic theory and actual teaching and museum-going experiences. Specifically, I identify and elaborate on four aspects that impinge on people’s emotional response to works of art: (1) empathy and the different ways in which it is experienced, (2) the varying character of artworks, (3) the complexity and elusiveness of emotions, and (4) the incidence of emotions that are not denoted in particular works. Along the way and in conclusion, I reflect on what the complex role of emotions in people’s encounters with art might mean in art museum education.