Previous studies have extensively reported that the engagement and interest of art viewers toward art diminish after repeated exposure to artworks. This tendency has been called “museum fatigue” after Gilman (1916) reported this phenomenon. At the same time, the literature has pointed out that museum fatigue should be avoided especially in museum settings due to its negative impacts on several aspects, such as effective learning and/or satisfaction of museum visitors. Previous museum studies suggested that providing art viewers with information about a piece of art and/or exhibit can potentially prevent museum fatigue. However, the effects of providing artwork information remain unclear due to certain methodological problems. The present study examines the effect of presenting artwork information on the behavior of art viewers, especially in terms of viewing time and evaluation rating. Furthermore, the study investigated whether or not this manipulation can prevent museum fatigue. Result shows that the viewing time for each painting decreased as a function of a trial in two experimental conditions, where, participants read the introduction of the artworks they are viewing and in control condition, where they read information unrelated to the artworks. However, the finding suggests that viewing time will remain the same and even increase especially at the beginning of the art viewing task given that the artworks were presented in a chronological order. In other words, museum fatigue can be prevented by changing the presentation order of artworks. In contrast to viewing time, evaluation rating scores increased in both conditions. These results can be discussed in light of the learning process of art viewers.

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