Is beauty a matter of taste? No, it’s not. Come again?

Of course, there is something we may call taste; one might prefer fine dining, or, on the contrary, a fast-food burger. Similarly, one might be moved by Vivaldi’s Four Seasons or fall asleep unless they’re listening to techno with high beats per minute and strong bass.

These examples look like opposites, but they are not. Taste is what distinguishes them on the surface and determines our individual preference. But underneath, there are universal rules that determine whether, at the core, it works or not.

By ‘rules,’ I don’t mean cultural prescriptions, but perceptual and mathematical relationships embedded in how humans experience sound, light, and form. In my view, these rules reveal how, in essence, these opposites have more in common than you would think.

We often feel it’s the story that makes us tick, but in reality, it’s the truth held within these rules that resonates with us. The story is only the part that makes our conscious mind go “Ah, wow, that’s interesting,” but that’s not the same as the deeply felt, bodily experience we can have on a deeper level when confronted with beauty.

This truth resonates with what it means to be alive, to be part of an infinite universe, as opposed to what it means to be “I” in a narrow, finite context. Let me break it down for you:

Harmony

Harmony is the first key ingredient that determines whether something is beautiful. It arises from the mathematical relationships between frequencies, i.e. the precise intervals between musical notes or the relationships between light and dark in a photograph.

The difference in frequencies between musical notes is a given. Yes, there are different musical systems around the world that are culturally defined, but they all work with a mathematical set of rules that determine what ratio between two frequencies is typically perceived as pleasant. In other words, it’s the space between two sounds that determines whether they please the ear or make you cringe.

The same applies to light. Whether light is beautiful depends on the contrast between two tones, the space between two shades of grey, for example. This also determines why some colors work well together and others don’t. Just as in music, two colors can be dissonant, unpleasant to the eye, much like a jarring sound is to the ear.

The key takeaway here is that something is beautiful only in contrast with something else: a sound against another, or one tone against another. The space between them is mathematically defined.

Rhythm

Rhythm is the second ingredient. It is the foundation that holds the space together, carrying the work forward. Where harmony separates frequencies, creating contrast, rhythm meticulously spaces our carefully composed frequencies out in time.

Isn’t it amazing that across continents, different cultures have found different styles of music, but in the end, all of them are built on rhythm? Different styles of rhythm, sure, but all are based on the same logic: spacing out sounds in time, creating repeatable patterns that carry us from the first to the last note.

Rhythm doesn’t just organize sound in time, it synchronizes with the body, with breath, heartbeat, and movement. Think about how you not only hear the beat, you feel it. There is even research suggesting that sound and vibration can influence plant growth. It’s a reminder that beauty isn’t just an intellectual experience, it’s a physical one, rooted in our biology and our connection to the world around us.

Imperfection: The Secret Ingredient

Here’s where it really gets interesting. Together, harmony and rhythm create something that will always be pleasant, something perfect, and therefore potentially dull. The best music or the most beautiful painting is not the one that is most harmonious or has the perfect rhythm. A third, secret ingredient is needed to turn perfection into a masterpiece.

Together, harmony and rhythm create a space of their own—a space in which this secret ingredient can work its magic: imperfection. Small surprises, like the quick dissonance in Satie’s Gymnopédie. On their own, those two notes might give you a headache, but within the space created by the harmony and rhythm of the music, they sound like a happy little bird chirping in the early morning.

Why? Because while one note can only be beautiful in contrast with another, and one tone can only mesmerize next to another, beauty can only truly shine when perfection contrasts with imperfection.

Imperfection is what makes us human. As Baricco so beautifully puts it in Ocean Sea, perfection is meant for the eyes of the gods. But we are simply human, and imperfections make things relatable. We recognize ourselves through them. That’s where the resonance truly kicks in. And so, the most beautiful things on earth will always have one or more imperfections, flaws that make them bearable, and meaningful, to our human eyes.

Harmony and Rhythm in the World Around Us

Where do we find harmony and rhythm? From a photographer’s point of view, we find them in textures and contrast, of course. The quality of the light determines the contrast and the degree to which texture becomes apparent. Texture contains patterns that can be rhythmically arranged in a frame. Composition, in a sense, is to an image what rhythm is to music. This is of course something I seek in my own photographic practice; the search for contrast and rhythm, in shapes and tones but also by studying models in nature or post-industrial environments.

But if we pay attention, we find harmony and rhythm all around us, in anything manmade that is considered beautiful, from statues to paintings, ballet, and music, and even in everyday household items like your sofa, your coffee machine, or your TV.

So, is everything that is beautiful art? No, of course not. But should all art be beautiful? Setting taste aside, on the level of rhythm and harmony, my answer would be yes, unless one relies on narrative to compensate for an absence of rhythm or harmony, rather than to deepen an already resonant work.

Nature: The Ultimate Reflection of Beauty

On a final note, let’s not forget nature. Harmony and rhythm are everywhere. Look at the fractals we find in snowflakes, trees, and flowers. The mathematically organized divisions in nature are pleasant to the human experience. Flowers don’t just attract bees or other insects, they work on us humans, too.

Don’t forget: there is a solid theory that all living things, flora and fauna included, originally stem from one common ancestral cell population, the Last Universal Common Ancestor or LUCA. If that proves to be true, it’s no wonder that what we see in nature is in us, and that what we experience as beautiful resonates with something already inside us.

So, is beauty a matter of taste? Perhaps in the details. But at its core, beauty is a reflection of the universe, and of ourselves. The next time you’re moved by a piece of music, a painting, or even the way light filters through the trees, ask yourself: what is it that resonates with me? Is it the story, or is it the harmony, the rhythm, the imperfection, that quiet reminder of what it means to be alive?

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