One group of diners was offered a salad arranged like Wassily Kandinsky's "Painting number 201." Another group was given a salad featuring broccoli sprouts, Portobello mushroom slices and snow peas lined up in neat rows. The last group was offered a typical pile of salad arranged in the middle of a plate. Each salad had identical ingredients, dressing and condiments.

The Kandinsky salad was rated the best — by an 18 percent margin over the other two presentations. Most importantly for restaurateurs, diners were willing to pay twice as much – both before and after eating it. (See the breakdowns in ratings in this bar graph.)

The components of the salad used in the Oxford study (left), and the pile of salad given to the third group of participants. Photo: Crossmodal Research Laboratory

Charles Michel, who is the chef in residence at the Oxford Crossmodal Research Lab and the lead author of the study, tells The Salt he chose Kandinsky's work for "the specific association of colors and movement." His chef's mind saw a salad, particularly the mushroom shape in the top left corner, and the experiment took shape.

"It's not so much about food copying a work of art in particular, but rather using artistic inspiration, or simply having an artistic sensitivity when plating food — as most chefs actually do," he says.

The diners were not told that the Kandinsky-esque salad was designed to look like a painting. Still, the study shows that "diners intuitively attribute an artistic value to the food, find it more complex and like it more" when presented this way, the study's authors, Michel and his co-authors write in the paper.

Why the diners thought the painting-like plates were more appealing is trickier to parse out. They may have identified appealing patterns of color and shape, or, the artistic plate may have "implicitly suggested a connotation of higher value (or effort) through the visual display, value that might have helped to deliver a more pleasurable eating experience," the study says.

The "Taste of Kandinsky" study was published this month in the journal Flavour.

"I hope certain cooks can get inspired by this, and openly connect culinary creation to a more artistic act," Michel says.

So all you wanna-be chefs and food stylists, try imitating some art for your next food photo shoot. Tweet us your pictures to @NPRFood. Don't forget to tell us what painting you're modeling and use the hashtag #NPRfineartfood. We'll post a roundup of the best next week.

Copyright 2014 NPR.

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Kandinsky On A Plate: Art-Inspired Salad Just Tastes Better