Beauty is most commonly defined as the subjective feeling of pleasure associated with objects which makes these objects enjoyable to see. Such objects could be natural objects like sunsets, landscapes, humans and artistic works of art. Beauty, along with beauty, is probably the most popular subject of aesthetics, among the major branches of psychology. However, many philosophers and aestheticians disagree with this claim. For example, Descartes claims that beauty is knowledge, while many other philosophers, including Helmuth von Moltke and James J. Oakes claim that beauty is a feeling or emotion.
The question as to beauty has been the central issue in aesthetic debate for thousands of years. In the eighteenth century, aesthetics became a major science based on the works of Sartre, Le Figuer, Degas, Malevil, Chardin, Renoir, Monet, Giacometri and others. These artists used different techniques and means to create beautiful works of art, most notably painting. The nineteenth century saw developments in the field, most significantly in the works of Jean-Philippe Rumi. Remarkably, Rumi’s “Paradise Lost” is perhaps the best-known example of an artwork that uses the subjective element of beauty as a means of escape from the real or tragic world into a realm of aesthetic beauty and divine peace.
Today, we live in a beauty culture: beauty is not just an object, but the very core of our being. Beauty in art, fashion, literature, architecture, and daily life pervades our culture. Although some argue that beauty is subjective because it depends on how a person chooses to see it, the fact remains that beauty, as an aesthetic quality, can be objective. To say that a thing is beautiful is not just a subjective judgment, but a universal truth.