Why are flowers so beautiful?
- Kristy Chan
- Sep 3, 2022
- 2 min read
Well, this is a question I've always asked myself in my head. Until one day, I actually gave into the curiosity and decided to search it up online.
I picked up some interesting facts that I wanted to share with you. This question has connections to not only aesthetics and art, but to physics and science. Of course would "people perceive flowers attractive because of immanent physical properties e.g. symmetry or color composition, which makes us think of them as beautiful,” said Dr. Zbigniew Motyka. French visual scientist also Dr. Louis Brassard agreed and goes further saying that “human’s perception of flowers being beautiful is not only due to aesthetic appreciation but also because of mammalian feeling."
However, the next question is "So... do all humans find flowers beautiful?" I would say that beauty is extremely subjective, but surely out of the 400,000 species of flowers, every human would find at least 1 type of flower beautiful right?
Another question is "How and why have humans evolved a sense that some things are beautiful, regardless of usefulness?" For example, "What makes flowers, in general terms, more beautiful than berries?". I think that regardless of usefulness, beauty will always come first and is it due to human instinct? We can link this back to the argument of "pretty privilege". Just the other day, a friend of mine had a conversation with me about pretty privilege and he gave me an example of pretty privilege in a work setting. A is prettier than B, and although B has more experience and is better at the job, A will still get chosen over B. Why is that so, beauty>usefulness? That's one question scientists have not cracked yet.
Dr. Edwards added that most people's flower preference comes with sentimental association. To this I agree, I myself am an extremely sentimental person, I'm one who keeps receipts, stickers and tickets for keepsake and for journalling/scrapbooking. You see for example, remembering a vivid, happy memory in a setting specifically in a room with a strong lavender scented diffuser, or a garden of roses. Those memories will definitely stay and influence your flower preferences. I think that people who are more turbulent, people who think emotionally instead of logically would be able to understand what I mean...
In this very moment, the questions running through my head right now are innumerable for real. There's too much to cover and so I'm keeping it short, I hope you had a good read :)
Here are some links to articles that I got my information from
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