The article is devoted to the analysis of visual information perception by a museum visitor at the exposition and the formation of a visual image on its basis. «Visual turn» secured the visual image and visual information as the basis and basis for the development of the thinking process of modern man. When interpreting the past, the “aestheticization” of not only the exhibition space, but also the museum object as an exhibit, becomes relevant and in demand. The reasons for this trend are simple, they are mediated by the reduction / simplification of the role of scientific knowledge and its popularization in society. The rejection of the material, holistic authenticity of the subject as a historical source and the replacement of its heuristic properties with various types of visualization or “pictures” should be designated as a gnoseological paradox of the museum exposition.