Why We Like Art and Music

 Art takes many forms and is made with much effort and time. Artists often have to work for weeks to produce a single painting, sometimes even years. Michelangelo, famous for painting the Sistine Chapel, had to work for four years to finish it. Similarly, sculpting things out of stone and clay takes a very long time even with modern tools and technology. When we see a painting, we must appreciate that its maker had to work for a very long time and very hard to create it.

And at the same time, we like seeing art. The vast majority of humans like some form of art, be it statues, paintings, or monuments. The Louvre gets millions of visitors every year because it houses the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa. Because of the love humanity holds for art, it has become very diverse. There are hundreds of different kinds of painting styles, many brushes and paints to paint with, many different techniques that artists use, and so on.

It is the same with music. Music is definitely a form of art, but it is an art that we hear. Of course, it is appreciated perhaps even more than paintings and sculptures. Many people empty their bank accounts to attend music concerts, and lots of people are ready to argue about their favorite music artist, producer, or singer. Just as there are many kinds of paintings, there are many kinds of music as well. Thousands of people know the words to their favorite songs. Hundreds of people around the world know how to play a musical instrument. Hundreds more know how to write songs and make money from their talents. The point is that we humans have a great appreciation for both art and music.

But why do we like art and music so much? Or rather, why did we evolve to like art and music at all? Watching a painting or listening to music gives us pleasure, of course, but why? There is no evolutionary advantage we get from appreciating a statue or listening to our favorite songs. Music is just a set of vibrations carried to our ears by air molecules, and art is just a collection of colors and materials. Yet art and music are obviously very important to us. Hundreds of museums and thousands of paintings are appreciated by us daily. So, even though we get no evolutionary benefit from appreciating art and music, why do we do it?

Let's focus on art first. Many scientists will have many ways to answer the above question. A neuroscientist who studies the brain, for example, might say that we like art because looking at it activates areas in our brain related to shape, color, and logical thinking. We look at art and recognize it. We try to understand its meaning. We feel emotions when looking at art depending on how we view it. The human brain automatically tries to get some meaning from art, and so, we enjoy it.

Music is very similar. We appreciate music with our ears instead of our eyes. Music and sound activate areas in our brain that understand things like pitch. That is why we can appreciate low voices and high voices. We can listen to shrill sounds and deep sounds in music. Also, our brain tries to find a relationship in the musical notes we listen to. We try to find patterns in music. And, if those patterns sound good to us, our brain begins giving out chemicals that make us feel happy. So, we are happy to listen to music.

However, in terms of psychology, the answer is very different. Art and music make us happy because they are a way we can express ourselves. They give us new ideas and make us feel things. We laugh, cry, and frown simply by looking at a painting or listening to music because they make us feel emotions. Art and music reach us all and make us feel the same way even if we are different people.

To conclude, art and music are symbols of our creativity. They are ways by which we express our emotions, our feelings, our achievements, and our failings. So, we must appreciate art and music, for they are a language that every human can understand for themselves.

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Thank you for reading!