# Exploring the Impact of Virtual Reality on Painting Appreciation
## 4 Conclusions  
This study explored the impact of four painting presentation methods, two physical (original paintings and album), and two virtual (desktop VR and HTC Vive) on the emotions induced by their viewing processes, painting evaluations and preferences, and viewing durations. The results indicate that physical paintings generate more positive emotions, such as pleasure, relaxation, and calmness, than virtual ones. The evaluation and preferences for originality, attractiveness, and value of the physical paintings were also higher than those for the virtual ones. Further analysis demonstrated that the landscape paintings were liked more in VR environments, whereas abstract paintings were liked more in physical environments. Moreover, the results of the correlation analysis indicate that, in addition to the paintings themselves, emotions and behavioral freedom during the viewing process, as well as the provision of additional information (such as titles and descriptions), affect viewers' preferences. Collectively, the results of this study show that the viewing experience is not as good if the viewing method of a real environment is simulated using VR. Therefore, for presenting paintings in VR, we recommend adding multimedia or converting static paintings into dynamic images. Additionally, a wireless HMD should be used to minimize the weight, and a controller handle can be employed to move in the VR environment, instead of moving the entire body. Thus, VR can be leveraged to enhance painting appreciation.  
This study had two limitations. Firstly, in order to avoid the impact of audience characteristics on the viewing experience, this study recruited young people of similar age as subjects. In future studies, the research team plans to assess the experiences of elderly individuals and other ethnic groups when viewing paintings in a VR environment. This will help to better understand the differences in how various audiences use VR systems. Second, to minimize the influence of the painting style on the viewing experience, this study used the same paintings with different viewing media. The paintings in this study were biased toward landscapes and abstract paintings, and paintings in other styles may produce different results.  
Conceptualization and methodology, C.-L.L.; investigation, C.-L.L. and Y.-Y.K.; formal analysis, C.-L.L.; writing--original draft preparation, C.-L.L.; writing--review and editing, C.-L.L. and Y.-Y.K.; visualization, C.-L.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This research was funded by the National Science and Technology Council, under grant 111-2221-E-144-001-MY3.  
The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Ethics Committee of Jen Ai Health International Medical Center (protocol code: 111-62, 16 August 2022).  
Informed Consent StatementInformed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study. Written informed consent was obtained from the patients to publish this paper.  
The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy.  
The authors wish to thank [PERSON] for providing the 12 paintings.  
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.