Most of us look at art while hearing something, so Ozger and Choudhury’s study is generally useful. The research duo report that college students’ moods “were measured via The Implicit Positive and Negative Affect Test (IPANAT) after a presentation of Francisco Goya's Black Paintings. There were three randomly assigned groups with a narration about the artist's life and the significance of his paintings (group N), classical music (group M) and both (group NM). Participant's art knowledge was also assessed, as determined by the Vienna Art Interest and Art Knowledge Questionnaire (VAIAK). Group NM reported significantly lower affect scores, indicating more intense emotional experiences as opposed to other two groups. . . . The knowledge and interest scores had no effect on the affect score.”
Can Ozger and Naseem Choudhury. “Wikipedia and Shostakovich Meets Goya: Elaborative Narration and Music Enhance Affect Derived from Art.” Empirical Studies of the Arts, in press, https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374231170260