This study aims to examine iconology based on its methodological grounds
in order to provide learners with art appreciation education so that they can
improve ability to interpret the symbolic and internal meanings of visual images
on their own and enhance ability to understand the sociocultural phenomena of
that age by appreciating art works.
The 2015 revised art curriculum is oriented to raising ‘ability to understand
art culture’ through art appreciation education focusing on core competence. In this
sense, education provided in a high school art class to understand symbolic
meaning internalized in an art work of a certain era can be very meaningful in
helping learners to understand ‘relationship between art and sociocultural
backgrounds’. In fact, Vanitas’ still life, the subject adopted in this study, has
been found to be educationally very effective in helping students understand the
relationship and symbol of the sociocultural context that took place in the
17th-century Netherlands.
According to the detailed results of examining the educational effects of the
art appreciation program, first, students’ ability to interpret the symbolic meaning of
visual images was improved, second, their ability to understand culture of a
particular era with artworks was enhanced, and third, their aesthetic thinking ability
was raised, too. In order to apply such programs more desirably in the field, there
should be more self-expression class using symbolic icons. Also, to help them
understand the background of a certain era more easily, convergent education
integrating art with other subjects should be provided for even higher effects.