Beautiful Art And Perception

1 Pages 343 Words

From the point of view of a student of perception, beauty is a feeling we conceive as a result of something stimulating that we perceive. This process of stimulation and response is a simple process of perception but is more complex when we try to systematically differentiate between what is stimulating and what is not. From the logic I have gathered in my studies, I would say that beautiful art represents the most simple and coherent differentiation between stimulation and habituation.
Beautiful art must have numerous traits. These include pattern, color, shading, symmetry, brightness, and geometry. Beautiful art must have meaning and a certain reality that we can envision ourselves in. This creates the need for an allusion of 3-dimensional depth. Color is stimulating because it is considered very effective on the observer’s mood. The signals that the photoreceptors send to our brains make us react in a certain manner. This reaction is not solely created by color because it is often associated with knowledge. For example, when I see red paintings I think of love, and lust. Red is the color of romance and consequently I am romantically stimulated.
Pattern is also a very important aspect of beautiful art. Pattern makes the picture flow and move in a certain direction. We follow patterns with our eyes until they lead us to a halt, also a thought. Patterns entice observers by working their memories. Certain patterns remind us of experiences, things we’ve seen or touched, and these memories are stimulating. Symmetry, an important constituent of pattern is said to be attractive when we look at faces and bodies. This is because a person with a crooked nose and cross-eyes is less attractive than a person with symmetrical features. We are positively stimulated by the fair proportions of human facial and bodily features.
Brightness and shading are also important in creating the image of edges, and thus 3-dimensional shape. All of ...