Have you ever considered why one object of art moved you in its beauty whilst you found another to be unspeakably ugly? And how a sculpture from hundreds of years ago could still be considered beautiful, even after centuries of changing tastes and fashions have relentlessly modified what is considered aesthetically pleasing?
Well, a kind group of Italian scientists have recently attempted to solve these very mysteries by scanning the brains of people observing sculptures to see which areas of the brain responded to art. The scientists aimed to test whether there was truly a ‘golden ratio’ of perfect proportion and symmetry in art by presenting participants with images of statues which adhered to the golden ratio and slightly skewed versions of the same statue which did not.
