The Nature of Beauty.

Michael Whynot. Portrait Study, 2013. Red chalk.

Michael Whynot. Portrait Study, 2013. Red chalk.

What beauty is, I know not, though it adheres to many things. (Albrecht Durer)



I have begun to question the nature of beauty - and what, exactly, I am observing when I see that which I perceive as beautiful.

Is beauty intrinsic in an object or is beauty a quality of a perceptive mind?

Beauty must be subjective, as evidenced by the wide range of what is accepted as beautiful. But, it seems to me, that subjective beauty is mostly cosmetic; mere surface appearance. If we can get past our conceptions of what we believe beauty to be, and allow perception to be immediate and unencumbered by thought, then beauty may show itself to be universal and self-evident; a quality as real as truth or goodness.