1. the branch of philosophy dealing with such notions as the beautiful, the ugly, the sublime, the comic, etc., as applicable to the fine arts, with a view to establishing the meaning and validity of critical judgments concerning works of art, and the principles underlying or justifying such judgments.
2. the study of the mind and emotions in relation to the sense of beauty.
aesthetic adj.
1. pertaining to a sense of the beautiful or to the science of aesthetics.
2. having a sense of the beautiful; characterized by a love of beauty.
3. pertaining to, involving, or concerned with pure emotion and sensation as opposed to pure intellectuality.
beauty n.
1. the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations, a meaningful design or pattern, or something else.
2. a beautiful person, especially a woman.
3. a beautiful thing, as a work of art or a building.
definitions provided by dictionary.com
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," - that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villian
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Beauty is truth. Beauty is lies. Beauty is pretty. Beauty is ugly. Beauty IS in the eyes of the beholder. Now here's why. According to dictionary.com beauty gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind. That which we find pleasureable varies greatly from person to person. Masochists enjoy enduring pain while sadists enjoy inflicting it. Arctophiles enjoy teddy bears and ophiophilia is the love of snakes. Some will find beauty in Bouguereau's Birth of Venus
while others will find some in Edouard Manet's Olympia
and others still in de Kooning's Woman and Bicycle
Personally, I find de Kooning's intrigues me most. Not everyone will agree with me though. I have a tendency to find beauty and interest in that which most find repulsive as far as sensory imaging goes. Beauty in terms of emotion should be raw and undefined, compeling and thought provoking. If not, it's just a pretty picture, not a beautiful work of art. As far as beauty being truth or lies, I don't quite believe it matters. Do we even know the difference between the two at times? I don't belive we ever quite come to the knowledge of the truth. We believe what we choose to believe. We don't want the truth. We make it up. We lie to ourselves to be happy. Our memories don't even serve correctly. They change over time to fit our needs and wants. The way we percieve is not the same as others percieve. Very much like reality, you must define your own sense of beauty.
No comments:
Post a Comment