Rudolf Arnheim's contribution to Gestalt psychology.

Abstract

Gestalt psychology was the foundation of Rudolf Arnheim's approach to art. Reviewing Arnheim's long and productive career, it becomes useful to assess his relationship to the evolving theory. By paying special attention to the issues of (1) perceptual abstraction and visual thinking, (2) perceptual dynamics and expression, and (3) perceptual "goodness" and beauty, it can be seen the degree to which Arnheim actually altered the basis of the general theory of Gestalt psychology, affirming the centrality of art in its purview.

Arnheim's Gestalt Theory of Visual Balance: Examining the Compositional Structure of Art Photographs and Abstract Images

“…Although Arnheim in his later works avoided referring to ‘the law of Prägnanz’, nevertheless, as Verstegen has emphasised in a section entitled ‘“Goodness” and beauty’, ‘the idea that “good” Gestalten placed one on the road to explaining esthetic phenomena was what so excited Arnheim in his early work’ (Verstegen 2007, p. 12). It therefore seems a straightforward prediction from the Arnheim–Ross theory that accepted works of art of quality should show greater balance than those of lesser quality.…”

“…Using a similar argument, the Gestalt theorists, Kohler in particular, suggested that the goodness of ‘good forms’ (gute Gestalten) occurs because the perception of the object, such as a circle on a page, results in a similar pattern of activity on the surface of the brain, a so-called isomorphic representation of the circle, which also has a minimum energy. Such ideas, which Verstegen ( 2007 , p. 37) has referred to as ‘the notorious Gestalt brain model’, are, of course, completely incompatible with modern understanding of the neuroscience of vision so that although the Gestalt principles are in every textbook, isomorphism is now nothing but a historical curiosity. That has, however, left a difficult theoretical gap, for although the Gestalt principles seem to be sound as descriptions of perceptual phenomena, there is no strong theoretical underpinning for their origin.…”

“…That has, however, left a difficult theoretical gap, for although the Gestalt principles seem to be sound as descriptions of perceptual phenomena, there is no strong theoretical underpinning for their origin. On the one hand, it ought to be possible, as Verstegen ( 2007 , p. 39) suggests, to keep the field metaphor and jettison the specific mechanisms. On the other hand, that is the precise opposite of Cupchik, who says, ‘Concepts such as fields and forces possess surplus meanings grounded in other disciplines … and are best treated in a metaphorical and reflective manner so they don't become reified’ (Cupchik 2007 , p. 23).…”

“…Within psychological aesthetics one of the most important of writers has been Rudolf Arnheim (1904–2007), much of whose theorising originates within Gestalt psychology (Cupchik 2007 ; Verstegen 2007 ). In Art and Visual Perception (Arnheim 1954 ; 1974 ) (1) and The Power of the Center ( 1982 ), Arnheim emphasised an holistic interpretation of an entire image or space, in which there are interacting, balancing sets of forces.…”

Geometric Regularity, Symmetry and the Perceived Beauty of Simple Shapes

“…The Gestalt principle of Pragnänz, sometimes known as the minimum principle, is that stimuli will be organized in a way that simplifies their global structure (Pomerantz & Kubovy, 1986; Van Leeuwen, 1991; Verstegen, 2007). One analogy to help think about this is a soap bubble.…”