Throughout many years of sharing my work directly with the public, I have witnessed folk from every economic perspective view my artwork, and the work of others. So what makes a person connect with a work of art?? I found Hobie’s perspective, a character from Donna Tart’s “the Goldfinch”, an interesting way of describing the alchemy.
“....if a painting really works down in your heart and changes the way you see, and think, and feel, you don’t think; oh, I love this picture because its universal, or I love this painting because it speaks to all mankind. That’s not the reason anybody loves a piece of art. 
Its a secret whisper from an alleyway. Psst, you. Hey kid. Yes you. . . An individual heart-shock. Your dream. The artist’s dream. You see one painting, I see another, four hundred years after we are gone - it will never strike anybody the same way and the great majority of people it will never strike in any deep way at all, but some paintings are fluid enough to work their way into the mind and heart through all different angles, in ways that are unique and very particular. Yours, yours. I was painted for you . . .”

-paraphrased from Donna Tart’s “the Goldfinch” 2013. A suspenseful book about a mysteriously captivating painting set in present day America. 

(Thank you Fritz H. for recommending this book.)