In the contemporary process of teaching fine arts, the students' own creative expression and art appreciation are used to encourage learners towards both perception and reception; consequently, the evaluation and internalisation of works of art play an equally important role. In art education practice, we manage to provide adequate incentives and are able to follow incentives for artistic expression, but pay less attention to developing art appreciation. This research presents the results of a study that monitored the development of art appreciation abilities among 9- and 10-year-old students (4th and 5th grades; n = 2794) in Slovenian primary schools. The level of art appreciation abilities was rather average, but was more developed among older students and girls. In monitoring the school stratum, we did, however, notice a statistically significant difference regarding perception, whereby students in urban schools performed better than their peers in suburban schools.