Sense of Beauty

In the Middle Ages beauty was associated with monstrosity and in the Renaissance with the harmony of the heavenly spheres It took on an lsquoindefinable form in the Romantic period to later become artifice a trick and a reference throughout the whole of the twentieth century We conclude that todays works of art no longer have beauty as their final objective

It is in Japan that we find the most interesting concept of beauty lsquoIki is the sense of beauty in its most absolute form It can be a plate of sushi an elegant arrangement of flowers Ikebana an ancient bonsai tree or even a Kimono The Japanese people see every magical moment in life as an instance of beauty and sometimes even the bare foot of a Geisha can be an Iki expression

Although the statement ldquobeauty is in the eye of the beholderrdquo has proven true significant discoveries show that from an organic point of view the area of the brain involved in the experience of beauty seems to be the same in all human beings regardless of their cultural background Things like the golden ratio exist to try to put a formula on beauty

Stendhals syndrome is a psychosomatic disorder causing rapid heartbeat dizziness fainting confusion and even hallucinations It happens when an individual is confronted with an extraordinarily beautiful work of art Looking at works of art throughout the centuries we discover that beauty has not always been associated with perfection

Is there such a thing as false beauty Well no but forgery is rampant in the art industry just like any other Yann Walther head of the Fine Art Expert Institute SGS where collectors from all over the world take their possessions to be examined and valued stated that more than 50 of the artworks on the market are fakes or incorrectly attributed And this could be an optimistic figure

In the final episode we explore absolute beauty as we take you on a journey around stunning UNESCO world heritage sites visiting wonderful places like the Subak rice terraces in Bali reminding ourselves that yes beauty does lie within us but it is also humanitys gift We try to imagine what the future of beauty will be like