Computational analysis and eye movement experiments of white space in Chinese paintings

In this paper, we report a study examining the effect of white space on perceiving Chinese paintings. Our goal is to investigate whether white space in Chinese paintings is not simply a blank background space but actually meaningful for aesthetic perception. We applied a computational saliency model to analyze the influence of white space on viewers´ visual information processing and conducted an eye movement study to confirm significance of white space. Specifically, we analyzed paintings of a well-known artist Wu Guanzhong, and we also collected users´ subjective aesthetic rating. Our study results showed that white space is not just a silent background: it is intentionally designed to convey certain information and has a significant effect on viewers´ aesthetic experience.