Imago Imaginis

Teaching formal analysis in art history often reveals gaps between students’ visual perception and their analytical articulation. This study explores the pedagogical potential of AI image generators in art history education, focusing on their role in developing analytical competence. Rather than using image generators as creative or reconstructive tools, the study conceptualizes them as diagnostic instruments for testing formal analytical skills. First-year art history undergraduates produced formal analyses of selected works of art, translated them into English, and used these texts as prompts for AI image generators. The generated images were then systematically compared with the originals and discussed collectively. Discrepancies between the visual outputs and the source artworks revealed ambiguities, omissions, and terminological imprecision in the students’ analyses, encouraging reflective observation and metacognition, as well as prompting students to consider the relationship between language, image, and interpretation more critically. The findings suggest that AI image generators, when embedded within clearly defined pedagogical aims and critically framed methodological contexts, can support higher-order learning objectives within Bloom’s taxonomy, particularly analysis, evaluation, and reflective interpretation while reinforcing the importance of formal analysis in art-historical enquiry.