Abstract: According to the recent data, there are more than 1200 state art museums in Russia. Their activity, in contrast to the private ones, is governed by special conditions of museum objects and collections purchasing, and is restricted by the need to meet the approved government plans of spreading of cultural values and increasing of museum attendance. For these reasons, nowadays, the state museums need to apply modern marketing and management techniques in order to successfully compete with alternative recreational venues as well as private museums and galleries. The primary goal of this research is to give recommendations for the Russian state museums using the results obtained through an empirical study, which was aimed at revealing of the stylistic preferences of the target audience. The empirical part of this study is based on the findings of the Laboratory of Empirical Visual Aesthetics of the Vienna University using the variance analysis (ANOVA) and the structural equation modelling (SEM) to determine the factors influencing people’s appreciation of three art styles (modern, abstract, and classical) within two groups of respondents – experts and non-experts. Despite a relatively small sample size, the results demonstrated a more positive perception of the classical and the abstract art among the Russian respondents. Moreover, the relationship between “interest in” and “knowledge of” the art was proved to be statistically significant.
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