ArtiMuse: Fine-Grained Image Aesthetics Assessment with Joint Scoring and Expert-Level Understanding

The rapid advancement of educational applications, artistic creation, and AI-generated content (AIGC) technologies has substantially increased practical requirements for comprehensive Image Aesthetics Assessment (IAA), particularly demanding methods capable of delivering both quantitative scoring and professional understanding. Multimodal Large Language Model (MLLM)-based IAA methods demonstrate stronger perceptual and generalization capabilities compared to traditional approaches, yet they suffer from modality bias (score-only or text-only) and lack fine-grained attribute decomposition, thereby failing to support further aesthetic assessment. In this paper, we present: (1) ArtiMuse, an innovative MLLM-based IAA model with Joint Scoring and Expert-Level Understanding capabilities; (2) ArtiMuse-10K, the first expert-curated image aesthetic dataset comprising 10,000 images spanning 5 main categories and 15 subcategories, each annotated by professional experts with 8-dimensional attributes analysis and a holistic score. Both the model and dataset will be made public to advance the field.

Overview of ArtiMuse. ArtiMuse provides granular, expert-level textual understanding results for images across eight fine-grained aesthetic attributes. Additionally, it achieves precise image aesthetics scoring, significantly outperforming state-of-the-art models across multiple widely-used benchmarks.

Aesthetic Analysis

Aesthetics Scoring

In comparison with existing models, ArtiMuse outperforms them by simultaneously achieving both accurate aesthetic analysis and precise aesthetics scoring in multi-dimensional assessments.

We construct ArtiMuse-10K, a high-quality dataset comprising 10,000 carefully curated images spanning 5 primary categories: Graphic Design, 3D Design, AIGC-generated images, Photography, and Painting & Calligraphy. These categories are subdivided into 15 distinct subcategories, such as Chinese Painting, Sculpture, and Daily Photography, ensuring comprehensive representation of diverse artistic expressions. Each image is annotated by professional experts on eight aesthetic attributes and an overall aesthetics score, offering superior professional rigor and annotation granularity. ArtiMuse-10K far exceeds existing IAA datasets in diversity and granularity.

Pipeline of ArtiMuse. ArtiMuse encompasses a multi-stage pipeline spanning data collection & processing, annotation generation, and model training, systematically enhancing its text evaluation capabilities and score assessment proficiency across multiple dimensions.