ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Comput. Sci.

Sec. Human-Media Interaction

Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcomp.2025.1597880

Tactile 3D-printed media interaction with the colour surface features of paintings. The case of the Scream (1910?) painting

Provisionally accepted
Petros StavroulakisPetros Stavroulakis1*Alfonsina PaganoAlfonsina Pagano2Beatrice BoracchiBeatrice Boracchi3Panagiotis SiozosPanagiotis Siozos4Sophia SotiropoulouSophia Sotiropoulou4,5Emilien LeonhardtEmilien Leonhardt6Vincent SabatierVincent Sabatier6Giorgio TrumpyGiorgio Trumpy7Irina C A SanduIrina C A Sandu3
  • 1Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH), Heraklion, Greece
  • 2National Research Council (CNR), Roma, Lazio, Italy
  • 3Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway
  • 4IESL, Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH), Heraklion, Greece
  • 5Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece
  • 6HIROX Europe, Limonest, France
  • 7NTNU, Trondheim, Sør-Trøndelag, Norway

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Due to their fragility and uniqueness, valuable works of art are largely unavailable for direct interaction with the public. They are usually displayed in conditions that restrict access, which inevitably limits the visitor experience, particularly for audiences with reduced mobility and visual impairments. Furthermore, related information is not easily conveyed because of the limited time visitors have to browse the museum, and because it is usually presented in jargon that assumes scientific knowledge, or is presented out of context. In this paper, we aim to address all these aspects simultaneously, using the painting The Scream (1910?) from the MUNCH Museum in Oslo as a case study. A combination of high-resolution imaging and computer vision algorithms was used to identify and separate the colour surface features for two areas of the painting. The information was then presented to visitors by 3D printing the two areas and placing the colour surface features at different heights, creating a relief structure that could be touched and inspected up close. The novel and highly accessible experience was evaluated at the InArt24 conference and at the KHM Museum in Oslo, Norway.

Keywords: 3d replica, User Experience, Munch, Evaluation, accessibility, knowledge transfer

Received: 21 Mar 2025; Accepted: 10 Jun 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Stavroulakis, Pagano, Boracchi, Siozos, Sotiropoulou, Leonhardt, Sabatier, Trumpy and Sandu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Petros Stavroulakis, Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH), Heraklion, Greece

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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