Discusses Langer's thesis that metaphor is essential to thought and art is metaphor in terms of symbolization and the components of metaphor. The nature of visual metaphor, using Ortony's construct of linguistic metaphor, and how differences between visual and linguistic metaphors bear on the problem of interpreting art are discussed. (AM)

Metaphor is an essential process and product of thought. Works of art, being developed products of thought, can be metaphors for felt dimensions of experience in its broadest sense. The metaphoric process can be used to interpret art works and art periods. (RM)

The clustering strategy increased the metaphoric nature of college students' written interpretations for realistic, abstract, and nonobjective paintings. Relaxed attention exercises significantly increased metaphoric interpretations of realistic paintings only. (Author/RM)