Why is sadness in art considered beautiful?

Because it is. So is happiness and love and joy, but generally speaking sadness and despair are slightly more interesting. One of the many reasons we go to art for solace is due to the special empathic abilities art is able to produce in us. read more

Just like a memoir about a great person is greater that a memoir of a lesser person, art conveying sadness is conveying a greater emotion, hence it is greater art. The urge to visualize sadness is much greater, because for many reasons people are less able to share it in regular discussion. read more

If depression is a foul miasma wreathing the brain, elegant sadness is more like a peacock’s tail, coloured in blue-gentian and rich marine greens It was Charles Darwin, in The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872), who noted that sadness manifested the same way in all cultures. read more

Justin Giarla, The Shooting Gallery, White Walls & 941 Geary, San Francisco: What makes good art is when you see a piece from across the room, you immediately fall in love with it without knowing anything about it and are in love with it forever. read more