Why does art give us pleasure?
I know nothing about neurology. I probably know less about art. But I know much about creating unfounded, a bit crazy, theories. There it goes one.
Why does art give us pleasure? Or at least, why does it give it to some?
Imagine yourself in front of this Kandinsky painting. For some, this might be an ugly doodle. But for many it is a very appealing piece of art. Why? I think it is in part because of learning. When we look at this painting our brains start to imagine and construct its meaning, they try to find links between its different elements (e.g. shapes, colours, positions, structure, textures…). These links can be old (learned) or new. While watching we learn the new ones as part of the “possible world”, thus new neuronal connections are created linking “things” never linked before. We are learning. This creates a mental pleasure, that in fact, represents the actual building of physical connections between our neurons.
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