Returning to the Sources: An Academic Study of Body Aesthetics and Artistic Expression

Abstract

Artistic expression embodies boundless creativity, transcending the boundaries of culture, language and time. Through diverse mediums like painting, literature and dance, it communicates emotions, ideas and experiences, fostering connections as well as understanding. It celebrates individuality, challenges perceptions and enriches the human experience with beauty and meaning. The purpose of this investigation is to conduct an academic study of body aesthetics and artistic expression. We investigate the impact of individuals’ sensorimotor engagement on the objective aesthetic judgment of beauty in Baroque and Renaissance paintings. By modulating participants' facial muscle activity, we aim to uncover the function of biologically motivated mechanisms in the perception of artistic expression. This research involved fifty individuals who had no prior experience with art or art history. Every individual’s visual acuity was either normal or improved to normal. Those individuals were asked to determine the aesthetic significance of neutral and painful expressions on the face in a selection of Baroque and Renaissance paintings. They were also asked to either avoid making any voluntary facial movements or to significantly minimize the Corrugator Supercilii facial muscles. The paintings depicting painful expressions on the face with the corresponding initiation of the Corrugator Supercilii muscles were shown to have a higher aesthetic grade. Moreover, it was shown that the importance of the motor improvement impact on aesthetic assessments strongly correlated with the individuals' artistic proficiency and sympathetic qualities. We demonstrate how bottom-up, physiologically driven sensorimotor processes contribute a part in the impartial assessment of artistic excellence.