Noting that individuals employ various methods of art appreciation, we advocate the theory of art appreciation repertoires as a complement to the linear concepts of singular developmental stages. The theory of art appreciation repertoires focuses on the two factors: the elements of artworks that viewers pay attention to and how they respond to these elements. Subsequently, based on combinations of these two kinds of factors, various appreciation skills are defined. In other words, the theory of art appreciation repertoires takes elements in the artwork and the response behaviors of the viewer as indicators to define appreciation skills, according to the combination of indicators; in this view, skills are the minimum units of art appreciation repertoires. Once certain art appreciation skills have been employed repeatedly and the viewer becomes accustomed to employing them, such skills may be regarded as comprising the viewer’s art appreciation repertoires.
