Aesthetics is the branch of philosophy that studies beauty, taste, and related phenomena. In a broad sense, it includes the philosophy of art, which examines the nature of art, artistic creativity, the meanings of artworks, and audience appreciation.
Aesthetic properties are features that influence the appeal of objects. They include aesthetic values, which express positive or negative qualities, like the contrast between beauty and ugliness. Philosophers debate whether aesthetic properties have objective existence or depend on the subjective experiences of observers. According to a common view, aesthetic experiences are associated with disinterested pleasure detached from practical concerns. Taste is a subjective sensitivity to aesthetic qualities, and differences in taste can lead to dis...
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Two visitors to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California admiring Henri Matisse's Odalisque w...
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Aesthetic concepts
Allan Ramsay - David Hume, 1711 - 1776. Historian and philosopher - Google Art Project.jpg
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An artistic impression of Farabi, or Alpharabius, in Liber Chronicarum 1493 AD
Edvard Munch - The Scream - Google Art Project.jpg
The Painting called "Scream"
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Photograph of Martin Heidegger. Detail of a phototograph entitled : "W 134 Nr. 060678c - Hausen: Fes...
Immanuel Kant - Gemaelde 1.jpg
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Landscape after Night Rain Shower, 1660, by Kun Can (1612—c.1673). Hanging scroll, ink and color on ...
Large Buddha Statue in Buddha Park, Ravangla.jpg
Large Buddha statue in Buddha Park, Ravangla
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Oil Paint Tubes
Plato Silanion Musei Capitolini MC1377.jpg
Plato, copy of the portrait made by Silanion ca. 370 BC for the Academia in Athens
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Rangeland with grass and bush vegetation in Namibia
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From http://hypernews.ngdc.noaa.gov
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Members from the Kankouran West African Dance Company performs during a ceremony marking Malaria Awa...
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View of Sagrada Familia from Placa de Gaudi. The cranes have been digitally removed.
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Las Meninas, by Diego Velázquez, from Prado in Google Earth.jpg
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Mandelbrot set. Initial image of a zoom sequence: Mandelbrot set with continuously colored environme...
Marcel Duchamp, 1917, Fountain, photograph by Alfred Stieglitz.jpg
Marcel Duchamp, 1917, Fountain, photograph by Alfred Stieglitz at the 291 (Art Gallery) following th...