Imagine van Gogh’s Starry Night with the silhouette of a jagged tower contrasting with the dark swirls of the night sky. Art is not always beautiful; like anything it can contain elements of beauty such as color, motion, and spatial orientation, but that does not necessarily make it beautiful. Just as a “good” person might do immoral things but still be considered good, an unattractive piece can still be unattractive even if some degree of beauty can be found. Despite the beauty or lack of beauty in the physical piece, I think that the most beautiful thing in an art piece is the thought process that art instigates. The art acts as a catalyst for an unfathomable amount of innovative ideas, enlightening the viewer on the flaws of society and the many wonders of the world which leads into my personal view of the many boundaries of beauty.
In our society, brains are not always seen as a beautiful characteristic; in fact very few advertisements show models acting intelligent or engaged. I find this fact very discouraging because I think that the pursuit of knowledge is one of the most beautiful things of all. It connects a person to their surroundings in an intimate way, and I think that this idea of beauty needs to be publicized so more people can understand the true value of knowledge. It can provide people with a successful future, opening windows to the careers that they feel passionate about. Because of their love for their study, people have a high probability of inventing more medicines, designing greener ways of living, and making psychological studies so that our society can learn to be at its happiest. Now, what can be more beautiful than that?
To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school…it is to solve some of the problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically. – Henry David Thoreau
I like your idea that having some elements of beauty does not necessarily make something beautiful, and I completely agree that the beauty of arts comes from the idea expressed. However,I believe that any ideas, whether they uncover the flaws of society, sins of human or the goodness and the valuable, are beautiful. Therefore, for any works to be characterized as artistic they in a sense have to be beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHonestly knowledge is so underrated. It takes so much time to cultivate and grow wisdoms and knowledge where as physical beauty is just innate. There is so much beauty in knowledge because it represents hard work, however, it's often much harder to see and takes so much more effort.
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ReplyDeleteI really love you idea that knowledge is beauty. Honestly, I just realize that most of us do not really think knowledge is beautiful. But thinking deeply, I have to say our connect to beauty is based on knowledge we absorb and learn. Without knowledge, we won't even know the word "BEAUTIFUL".
ReplyDeleteCheryl, I do agree that knowledge and I am sorry that I conveyed the wrong idea in my blog. When you say ideas that "uncover the flaws of society, sins of human or the goodness and the valuable" are beautiful, I am in complete agreement. The acknowledgement of the flaws in our society is the first step in creating the best society that we can.
ReplyDeleteI love how you spoke about the beauty of knowledge. I also agree with Olivia in that it is underrated and not given the credit it deserves. There's so many dimensions to beauty that I feel cannot all be given the same attention to.
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