The Influence of the Description of a Work of Art on Its Perception

The following article deals with the problem of the perception of aesthetic ugliness in art. The research presented in the article focuses on the reception of contemporary art assessed by two groups of students of the Faculty of Arts of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University. One of the groups has got acquainted with the description (in the form of a text and guided curatorial tours) and other one has not. Students’ assessments from the two groups are later on compared. The aim of the article was therefore an attempt to answer the question: does being familiar with the description of studied works of art and their authors in the form of a text and curatorial guidance influence the scope of understanding and assessment of the work being watched, and therefore how the information about the work or its lack affect the perception and aesthetic value of the work?