Holland!

This survey was conducted in 1996 with 949 people.

I found the favorite color questions very amusing. I lived in Holland when I was younger (only for a couple of years) and I do agree that in Holland, most people prefer blue, green, yellow and red. I attribute this to the flower beds of tulips they have all over! Most of the tulips I remember were yellow and red. The sturdy stems were green and the flowers were framed by a big blue sky. I would say tulips have become an iconic symbol for the country. They have fields of columns of tulips all over, with the dominant columns being yellow and red--supported by the green bases and blue overhead. This more than likely corresponds with people preferring spring and summer than fall or winter. Tulips and other flowers blossom, as in other northern hemisphere countries, more heavily in the spring and summer. For indoor scenes, people from Holland enjoy flower still life, after wanting to see common people in the paintings.

It was strange to find out that 52% of the people (at least those surveyed) preferred neither wild animals or domestic animals in their paintings. I have no idea why this is so and I'd love to hear reasons why. The only thing I can think of is that they like to see groups of people at leisure in the paintings they prefer.

Also, they prefer smooth brush strokes, soft curves, as well as playful, whimsical patterns. They also prefer blended colors and paler shades. This would be attributed to the history of painting in Holland. Although this survey was conducted in 1996, the mentalities towards art are influenced to an extent by art done over the centuries. I'm thinking about the influences of 17th century art and how it has influenced not only art of the recent century but also how people respond to and prefer certain aspects of art.

This survey is super interesting. I wonder what results would look like now in 2010, especially in the U.S. and on the Internet! The last 10-15 years most definitely have probably changed perceptions on a lot of the questions.