Beauty in Patterns

Is beauty deep?

“It is wrong to chide the novel for being fascinated by mysterious coincidences, but it is right to chide man for being blind to such coincidences in his daily life. For he thereby deprives his life a dimension of beauty.”

-Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

In The Unbearable Lightness of Being, the narrator argues that if we ignore life’s coincidences and patterns, then we also ignore some of life’s beauty. When we enjoy music with repeating elements or marvel at a face that’s composed of eyes, nose, and lips in relatively predictable positions, then we too may espouse the beauty of patterns.

In art, patterns aren’t just beautiful—they’re profound. When an image or idea repeats, for example, this can signal its thematic importance. So by creating meaning and theme, patterns become not only beautiful but also deep.

Style analysis may help us to better appreciate faces’ unique and repeating beauty. To identify deeper, figurative aspects of literal shapes. To make beauty more meaningful.