Since the beginning of time, humans have been drawn to beauty. Beautiful things have always managed to captivate us and draw us in, inspiring art, life, love, literature, creativity, passion, and invention in their wake.
However, the question then becomes what makes something beautiful? The old adage that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is not completely true- humans are actually coded to be drawn to certain things as more beautiful than others.
The way that we categorize things as beautiful has a lot to do with their aesthetic value and whether something is considered aesthetically pleasing. What is aesthetically pleasing?
What does Aesthetically Pleasing Mean?
Aesthetically pleasing generally refers to an object or item that someone considers to be beautiful or attractive. To call something aesthetically pleasing means that you consider it beautiful and satisfying, something that fulfills all of your needs and qualities for beauty in one object.
It comes from the world aesthetic, meaning the pleasant, positive, or artful appearance of a particular object.
To be aesthetically pleasing is to be so completely satisfactory and fulfilling in every way that you’re considered beautiful by almost everyone you meet.
What Makes Something Aesthetically Pleasing?
The basis of aesthetically pleasing is actually grounded in ancient science. Over two thousand years ago, a Greek mathematician and sculptor was working to craft his latest masterpiece when he discovered a mathematical miracle: when a line is divided into two parts following the proportion of 1:1.618, it creates an appealing and attractive proportion.
This ratio became known as the golden ratio or the divine ratio, and when the divine ratio is used it is considered aesthetically pleasing and the sheer scientific definition of beauty.
Renaissance painters and sculptors like Botticelli and Leonardo Da Vinci made the golden ratio popular by using it to sketch and paint their famous works including the Mona Lisa.
Today, the golden ratio is used to calculate aesthetic beauty treatments and to design interior and exterior art and architecture. The golden ratio is actually coded into our brains, so much so that we subconsciously judge a person or item’s beauty based on its symmetry and elegance as according to the golden ratio.
The closer an item comes to the golden ratio, the more aesthetically pleasing it becomes. To that end, we continue to find items that have been designed with the golden ratio in mind aesthetically pleasing, and it remains our major definition for aesthetically pleasing today.
10 Examples of Aesthetically Pleasing Things
1. An Unopened Jar of Peanut Butter
Peanut butter is a popular
The surface tension on the top of the peanut butter provides a reflective surface that shows off your face, and it’s perfectly smooth and perfectly symmetrical, making it incredibly aesthetically pleasing.
This ancient marble statue was carved thousands of years ago as a stunning testament to beauty and elegance. Crafted with the divine ratio as its major design foundation, this symmetrical masterpiece has experienced some damage over time, but still appeals to us as an elegant statement of the art of the female body.
3. A Perfectly Filled Outline
Another big component of aesthetic design is complete symmetry, coverage, and fullness. Perfectly filled out lines are great examples of mirrored and fully designed and filled items that are incredibly aesthetically pleasing.
4. A Minimalist Room
Less is more, and with aesthetically pleasing areas sometimes a simple look is the most secure. A smooth, calm, and open space is going to draw your eye to a few major focal points while also highlighting clean and open silhouettes, making it a supremely aesthetically pleasing room and overall design.
We love decorating our Minimalist Home with Handmade Gant Lights.
5. Sunsets
Many people enjoy sunsets as aesthetically pleasing because of their artful combination of colors and linear designs. Sunsets mirror each other across the sky and create an expansive canvas for symmetrical and stunning images and color palettes, making them an extremely aesthetically pleasing object.
With their colorful and bold patterns and statements, not everyone automatically assumes that kaleidoscope patterns could be considered aesthetically pleasing. However, kaleidoscope patterns are perfectly symmetrical and balanced by image shape and design across the entire pattern, making them extremely aesthetically pleasing and balanced.
7. A Calm Sea
The moving water and calm seas of the ocean are all perfect factors for what we’d consider aesthetically pleasing. The soft and mirror like finish of the water often means that you’re sitting atop what feels like glass, and the endless expanse of sky meeting sea is incredibly soothing and symmetrical.
8. Islamic Art
Islamic art is often considered a highlight of aesthetic pleasure because of its bold use of colors, patterns, carvings, textures, and symmetry. The balanced and ancient approach of Islamic art means that everything is carefully designed and visually appealing, making it a stunning example of beauty.
9. Leonardo Di Caprio
Leonardo di Caprio is considered one of the most aesthetically pleasing people on the planet. His round and symmetrical face almost perfectly matches the requirements set out by the divine ratio, and his warm and quirky smile gives people comfort and confidence in him. In his many movies and film, he’s been lauded as attractive, beautiful, and aesthetic, a good sign he’s aesthetically a great fit.
10. Angelina Jolie
Another actress that is considered to be one of the most aesthetically pleasing women alive, Angelina Jolie has long been a popular aesthetic favorite. Her features balance each other out and complement their overall look, balancing with her hair and the rest of her body to create a symmetrical and aesthetically pleasing overall look.
Final Thoughts
Aesthetically pleasing is a diverse category that can describe or include many different things. From people to artwork, skylines to design ideas, aesthetically pleasing means focusing on symmetrical and centered beauty, praising the simple and the balanced as the foundation of all that is beautiful.