The Neuroscience of Beauty: How Artists Create Happiness
For centuries, philosophers and artists have sought to define the nature of "beauty." Thinkers such as Plato and Kant conceptualized beauty as a transcendent idea or an aesthetic experience detached from personal desires. Today, however, a new understanding has emerged through the lens of neuro-esthetics: beauty might not merely be an abstract concept, but a physiological phenomenon. When a work of art is perceived as beautiful, it triggers specific neural mechanisms that generate positive emotions, including the release of dopamine and other neurotransmitters. If art can create "beauty," then it may also produce happiness, a concept deeply rooted in human biology.
Beauty: More Than a Simple Chemical Reaction
Neuro-esthetics, a field explored by researchers like neurologist Semir Zeki, suggests that the perception of beauty activates specific regions of the brain, such as the medial orbitofrontal cortex, which is associated with feelings of pleasure and reward. In Zeki's study The Experience of Mathematical Beauty and its Relation to Perception of Visual Beauty (2011), he demonstrates that the perception of beauty—whether mathematical or artistic—relies on similar neurological processes. This research establishes a direct link between exposure to beauty and the activation of the brain's reward system, involving dopamine alongside other neurotransmitters like serotonin and endorphins.
Thus, contemplating a painting, sculpture, or even a harmonious melody can activate these neural circuits, providing a sense of well-being. This notion helps explain why certain works of art provoke intense emotional and positive responses in viewers. Beauty, far from being mere abstraction, may be the key to triggering immediate pleasurable reactions in the human brain.
This leads to a central question that threads through art history: if creating beauty produces happiness, does the artist who chooses to create beauty become a "happiness maker"? And in our contemporary world, where art often grapples with complex social and political issues, what role does the pursuit of pure aesthetic pleasure play?
Artists as Happiness Makers: The Deliberate Pursuit of Beauty
Throughout art history, some artists have explicitly sought to capture "beauty," setting aside socio-political or narrative considerations to focus purely on aesthetic experience. The French painter Pierre Bonnard, with his paintings bathed in golden light and serene domestic scenes, seems to have deliberately oriented his work toward creating calm and peace in viewers. His work Dining Room in the Country (1913) invites contemplation of a world of tranquility, evoking feelings of comfort and serenity.
Yves Klein, with his obsession for monochrome and his famous International Klein Blue (IKB), aimed to reach a form of pure beauty, disconnected from figurative representation or messages. For Klein, color was the perfect medium to achieve a transcendent aesthetic experience, where beauty was perceived as a universal emotion. His Anthropometry series wasn't about the human form but about the pure experience of his signature blue.
Similarly, Henri Matisse often stated that color should be freed from its descriptive functions to become a language in itself. In works like The Parakeet and the Mermaid (1952-53), Matisse explores beauty in its purest form, with simple shapes and vivid colors creating a joyful and harmonious environment. Matisse himself claimed that his goal was to make art that would be "like a good armchair"—a refuge, a place of comfort for the soul.
Even in contemporary abstract art, this tradition continues. Artists like Sean Scully create works where color relationships and geometric forms exist purely to generate aesthetic pleasure and emotional resonance. His stripe paintings aren't about representing anything beyond the beauty of color interaction and compositional harmony.
For these artists, creating beauty is central to their practice. Their goal is not to represent complex realities but to evoke immediate positive emotions. They pursue aesthetic pleasure with the explicit intent of provoking pleasant reactions in their viewers—making them, in essence, happiness makers.
The Counter-Argument: Art Beyond Comfort
While the pursuit of beauty is a noble endeavor, it also has its critics. Many artists and critics argue that art should not be limited to producing pleasant emotions. Marcel Duchamp, with his famous Fountain (1917), rejected the idea that art had to be "beautiful" to be meaningful. For him, art should challenge conventions, defy expectations, and sometimes provoke discomfort. Duchamp sought to shift focus away from pure aesthetic contemplation to question the very nature of art itself.
Similarly, Francis Bacon, whose paintings explore the darkest and most troubling aspects of human experience, did not seek to create beauty but to expose the violence and pain of existence. His distorted portraits, such as his Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X series, do not aim to soothe but to confront viewers with the brutal reality of the human condition. For Bacon, art could not be reduced to visual pleasure; it had to confront the spectator with life's complexities.
Goya's Saturn Devouring His Son (1819-1823) explores the depths of terror, intentionally casting aside beauty to make room for an aesthetic of fear, confronting viewers with far more complex and unsettling emotions.
These examples show that art can—and often should—transcend mere aesthetic pleasure. Art can be a force for social commentary, a catalyst for reflection, or even a trigger for necessary discomfort. But this doesn't mean that beauty is obsolete in artistic practice.
Beauty as One Valid Path Among Many
Despite these critiques, the pursuit of beauty remains a perfectly valid artistic goal. Just as some artists choose to address political or social issues, others focus on creating beauty to produce positive emotions. The "beautiful" in art is not a lesser objective, but simply one choice among many legitimate approaches.
For example, Shepard Fairey, known for his Hope poster featuring Barack Obama, engages politically through his art. While visually striking, his work doesn't seek to be beautiful in the traditional sense; its primary goal is to transmit a strong political message.
On the other hand, artists like Claude Monet dedicated their lives to capturing the beauty of nature. His Water Lilies series explores light and color in ways that solely aim to evoke peace and tranquility. Far from being simplistic or commercial, Monet's quest to capture natural beauty is as profound an artistic endeavor as any politically engaged work.
Contemporary abstract artists continue this tradition. Mark Rothko's color field paintings, with their luminous, meditative qualities, were explicitly designed to create transcendent emotional experiences. Rothko famously said he was interested in "basic human emotions—tragedy, ecstasy, doom." His pursuit of beauty was deeply philosophical, aimed at touching the sublime.
Thus, the pursuit of beauty, though sometimes criticized as reductive, is an artistic path as legitimate as any other. Beauty in art can bring happiness, offer respite from the world's chaos, and create moments of pure contemplation.
The Neuroscience of Aesthetic Experience
Recent neuroscientific research supports the idea that beauty-focused art serves a genuine psychological function. Studies show that viewing aesthetically pleasing artworks can reduce cortisol levels (stress hormones), lower blood pressure, and increase feelings of well-being. The brain's response to beauty involves multiple systems: the reward system (dopamine), the emotional processing centers (limbic system), and areas associated with memory and meaning-making.
This suggests that artists who create beautiful works aren't just making "pretty pictures"—they're crafting experiences that can genuinely improve mental health and emotional well-being. In our increasingly stressful world, this function of art becomes particularly valuable.
Art as a Source of Happiness
Art focused on the pursuit of beauty—like the work of Matisse, Bonnard, Klein, or contemporary abstract artists exploring pure color and form—is neither reductive nor lacking in depth. These artists don't merely create "pleasant" works; they create emotional experiences that resonate deeply with viewers. Neuroesthetic research shows that these works directly affect our brains, releasing neurotransmitters associated with pleasure and reward.
In a contemporary context, where art can sometimes seem overly intellectual or conceptual, the quest for beauty reminds us that art can also simply be a source of happiness. While art can be subversive, provocative, or unsettling, it also has the capacity to bring joy, serenity, and peace.
The artists who choose this path—the happiness makers—understand that beauty is not superficial but profound. They recognize that in a world filled with complexity and often darkness, creating moments of pure aesthetic pleasure is not an escape from reality but a necessary complement to it.
Beauty, far from being merely a cultural construction or matter of taste, appears to be deeply rooted in our biology. In this sense, artists who choose to create beauty are not only creators of aesthetic experiences but, in a very real way, producers of happiness. They remind us that art's power lies not only in its ability to challenge and provoke but also in its capacity to heal, inspire, and bring joy to the human experience.
Contemporary Happiness Makers: IdeelArt's Pursuit of Beauty
By personal choice rather than strategic decision, IdeelArt's curation has always favored art that conveys positive emotions. Even artists in our collection who may have more conceptual approaches tend to create works that are, nonetheless, beautiful—a word we embrace despite its sometimes fraught reputation in the art world, especially among critics. This organic evolution of our curatorial vision has resulted in a remarkable collection of contemporary "happiness makers"—artists who dedicate their practice to the pursuit of beauty and the evocation of joy, serenity, and contemplation.
Among our extensive roster of artists, dozens embody this philosophy of creating art that serves as a source of happiness and aesthetic pleasure. Jessica Snow captures this beautifully when she says, "The colors and shapes of my work should hopefully make that person feel more at home in this world. If the painting succeeds in doing that, then I have accomplished something quite wonderful indeed." This sentiment resonates throughout our collection, from Daniela Schweinsberg's vibrant compositions with titles like "Berry Bliss" and "Feeling Light and Free," to Emma Godebska's meditative explorations of light in works such as "Spring Light" and "Soft Warmth," and Nikolaos Schizas's joyful celebrations of color in pieces like "Gratitude" and "If You Want To Be Happy, Be!"
These artists, along with many others in our collection, demonstrate that the pursuit of beauty in contemporary abstract art is neither superficial nor commercially driven, but rather a profound artistic endeavor that acknowledges art's capacity to heal, inspire, and bring joy to the human experience. Their works remind us that in our increasingly complex world, creating moments of pure aesthetic pleasure is not an escape from reality but a necessary complement to it.
The breadth of IdeelArt's collection of happiness makers extends far beyond what we can describe here. In the Related Artworks section below, you'll discover a rich panorama of contemporary artists whose creations contribute to this joyful and beautiful artistic tradition, each offering their unique interpretation of how art can serve as a source of happiness and make viewers feel more at home in the world.
by Francis Berthomier
