Beautiful terror: Why witnessing 'the sublime' in art gives you that awestruck feeling
Artists have tried for centuries to capture the sensation you feel in the face of something immeasurable.
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Artists have tried for centuries to capture the sensation you feel in the face of something immeasurable
Posted: Feb 18, 2021 5:30 PM ET | Last Updated: February 18
Beautiful terror: Why witnessing 'the sublime' in art gives you that awestruck feeling
CBC Arts2 months ago
4:23Artists have tried for centuries to capture the sensation you feel in the face of something immeasurable.4:23
Have you ever gone to the gallery with your uncle and as you're watching him stare deep into a Caspar David Friedrich painting, a look of slight terror appears on his face as he gazes at the rough sea? That look on your uncle's face is part of art! Today we're going to talk about this effect that philosophers have called "the sublime" — the sensation that you feel when you look at something immeasurable in scale and sense that you're almost nothing in the face of it.