Mathematical beauty is a type of aesthetic value that is experienced in doing or contemplating mathematics. The testimonies of mathematicians indicate that various aspects of mathematics—including res
Diagram from Leon Battista Alberti's 1435 Della Pittura, with pillars in perspective on a grid
Aesthetics is the branch of philosophy that studies beauty, taste, and related phenomena. In a broad sense, it includes the philosophy of art, which examines the nature of art, artistic creativity, th
The nature of aesthetic experiences, like the admiration of artworks, is a central topic of aesthetics.
In his 1790 book Critique of Judgment, Immanuel Kant argued that aesthetic judgments are subjective, universal, disinterested, and involve an interplay of sense, imagination, and understanding.
Conventionalist definitions of art assert that art is a socially constructed category. They explain that readymade objects like Marcel Duchamp's Fountain are considered art by reference to established conventions.
Some categorizations of art forms focus on the medium used to express artistic ideas, such as the use of oil paint.