The gaze of beauty

18/05/2025 Nilson Lattari

Why do we sometimes glance at someone passing by? Why do we turn our heads to locate a different smell or an unfamiliar, sudden sound? What instinct awakens within us like a ringing bell or a siren, warning us of an imminent danger? What draws our attention to look around, out of curiosity or an absent-minded glance? We are often fascinated by the extraordinary or by something we’ve never seen before, like a spectacular view, objects of art, or the beautiful lines of a face.
Some may look at the same wonderful painting many times, and over time, it becomes trivial. They may even see others’ admiration (when they look at it for the first time) as irrelevant. At times, we admire paintings, buildings, or iconic places because others do the same. In these moments, we follow beauty standards.
But what do we label beautiful – is it truly beautiful? “Beautiful” is an ordinary word; it sometimes unites or divides people’s opinions. Ancient objects, acclaimed paintings, sculptures and other things considered beautiful today may not have been considered attractive when they were first created. Over time, do ordinary things become beautiful naturally, or do we mature and label them as beautiful because we didn’t realize it before? Do we transform symbols or different objects into beauty in order to create icons that define our generation?
Beauty reveals itself when we find something extraordinary, and it is able to affect us. On the other hand, we tend to perpetuate images and symbols from previous eras as beauty standards. We do this when we revisit old artists, movies, urban scenes, events and personalities that time has forgotten. Perhaps, events happening in the present will be the forefront of the arts in the future, because no one has yet acknowledged the beauty they possess.
Why do these movements occur? Are memories revived to acquire new life?
When we find something truly beautiful – non-standard, and independent of external influences – we feel it has an aura, a quality that catches us. It charms us not just because it is beautiful, but because it is a source of pleasure.
Beauty exists to capture our attention and to bring us the essence of pleasure; the pleasure of being, of staying alive and standing out as unique – the first to recognise it. This incredible and stunning pleasure makes us stop and think that it is almost too perfect to exist.
Beauty and pleasure lie in our gaze when we watch someone walking beside us, and we may imagine what that being might give us. Both exist in different accents, in a voice that may irritate others and sounds like melodies to our ears. These moments are full of fireworks popping, and we want to celebrate them intensely. Beauty and pleasure awaken a feeling within us, like a siren sounding, to call us towards an incredible adventure. We ponder whether it is worth the risk, and whether the future may become a promise of enchantment.
We look around with the gaze of a diver touching the bottom of the sea, and our object of desire is mischievous and dreamy. We look at it because it seems handsome and we want to possess it.
We contemplate the origin of pleasure when we face a wonderful view, someone’s body, or the delicate lines of a face. Beauty lies in something truly fascinating, able to satisfy our pleasure as if it were unique in the world. And we stare, awestruck.