Beauty – An Objective Quality

Beauty is defined as that intangible quality that makes objects pleasant to see. Such objects may include sunsets, beautiful landscapes, humans and other works of artwork. Beauty, with art and beauty, is the most important theme of aesthetics, among the most important branches of science. The word “beauty” comes from the Latin word “gift” meaning “skill or powers of the mind.”

Art becomes more relevant in the twentieth century because the twentieth century is a time when man has become aware of his personal values and as such his sense of beauty has become much more subjective than it used to be in earlier times. In earlier periods, beauty was seen as an objective quality. The twentieth century however sees beauty as being subjective, and as such people have become more inclined towards beauty. Subjective beauty is also related to emotions, and this can be seen in the art of various genres.

Beauty therefore is the subjective idea of beauty that dominates in our culture, including our ideas about beauty. Subjective beauty thus defines beauty as the pleasing to the eye, and inversely beauty is judged as the unattractive. Beauty thus is seen to be subjective and as such many fine artists work on the concept of beauty on an emotional level, and present in their work beauty not as a superficial or clear quality but as something more substantial and in line with human feelings. There are many works by such artists who present people with beautiful objects as if they were pleasing to the eye in a purely aesthetic sense.